Loud House: New World Crisis

by Lord-Zer0

AU to 'Not a Loud', 9 years into the future, Lincoln and Lucy try to find their way back home to their family after the world changing events of an advanced scientific terrorist organization 'HD' separates the two Louds. – Rated M for adult content (First fic to be posted, PM for honest critique)

11. End

[*Gun Click* "Say it!" "The loud house doesn't belong to me!" "Say the whole disclaimer!" "The loud house is owned by Nickelodeon and created by Chris Savino - any mention of characters location and etc connected to marvel-comics, DC-comics, Bethesda, Sony, Capcom and etc are also not owned by me!" "Good, now let that be the end of it"]

Posted 9/20/20

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-Chapter 10-

-Kara-

Kara was excited this morning, she's not just hanging around people out of her social circle, not that she had one for the last few months, no gossiping old ladies and pervy boys, she notices the stares.

She's found comfort in her new friends.

Well sort of, Lincoln was a sometimes friend, who she didn't see often, but he has a sweet, sweet motorbike that she's adamant to ride one day.

Lucy on the other hand, has been there with Kara for the last week straight. It's funny, it's been nearly two weeks since meeting Lucy and her boyfriend but she's never gotten a good look at her eyes. She gets it, Lucy's whole motif is being dark, mysterious and having a perspective that makes you think she more connected to something… supernatural, this actually makes her fearful of Lucy, especially with that ominous monotone voice of hers.

Lastly there was Megan, it's obvious how hard she's crushing on her cousin, which she can't even fathom, but to each their own.

The three had been hanging out all the time and today would be no different or at least the was the plan for today. When she heard that Lincoln would be lending a hand around the farm, she was both thrilled and angered.

On one hand, she'd see Lincoln more, on the other, they could've asked her, she'd be more than willing to help.

Once again, the family babies her.

Even Conner pulls his weight and he acts like an ass half the time but god-forbid Kara wants to contribute, everyone treats her like she's five.

She CAN help, she CAN do things, so why is she the odd man out, not that she doesn't appreciate having all the down time she could want, and wanting for nothing is pretty cool too, but there are limits, even she doesn't want to feel like dead weight anymore.

If Clark 'plainer than a bagel' Kent and Karen 'the drunk' Danvers could work a farm then why can't she?

She gets dressed; just a white t-shirt and jean-shorts, nothing special.

Kara races downstairs to see her aunt and uncle to make another plea.

'Maybe this time, I can change their minds.' She's lost in thought as walks into the kitchen to see her sister and Uncle.

"Hey Kara!" Karen announced.

"Morning, Kara." Pa Kent said as his niece mad his way to her.

"Hey guys, uh, Uncle Jon, I was wondering if I could talk to you real quick?"

"Of course, what's the problem, need something?" He asked politely.

"Yeah, sort of, so I heard from Lucy that Lincoln's going to be helping around the place."

"Yes, he offered as an apology and we're taking him up on it." As those words left her mouth, Karen perked up.

Karen spoke, "~Oh really~" She lightly hummed, 'Guess I'll dust off the old cowgirl farm-hand outfit.'

Jonathan stared at his promiscuous niece and replied, "…Yes," he looked back at Kara, "Back to you, what was the problem?"

Kara shifted a little, "That's the thing, since Conner won't up and moving right now, I was hoping I could take some of the load-"

Kara was interrupted by her loving big sister.

"Nope! We've been over this Kara, we got it covered. Don't stress out over it."

"Look I just wanna-" Karen cuts off her sister.

"I don't get why this is such a big deal for you. You didn't exactly get the power to bench a hundred of yourselves, we can handle it and you'll just get in the way." Karen said it so casually but winced when it came out.

Kara glared daggers at her sister. "Why won't you just give me a chance?"

"Ok-ok, that came out wrong…"

"No, I think that came out right, what, you think I can't carry a few boxes and work a field-"

"You know it's more than that and whatever, it doesn't concern you, if you wanna feel useful, I'm sure someone could use a messenger." And there she goes jamming that foot even further down her throat.

Kara gritted her teeth and was just about ready to lose it.

Jonathan knew what was going to happen next and even though he wanted to stop the shouting match before it started, his wife's words rang in his head, 'Just leave Jon, don't get involved.' He reminded himself and as he snuck out of the kitchen he could hear the two yelling, "You know, maybe now's a good time to check on the truck."

Ten minutes of screaming had passed and things escalated.

Starting from pointing out flaws in each other, to arguing over who has it easy, name calling, and finally who's the adult in the room.

Both girls are red in the face as Kara continues, "Fat tits, drinking yourself sick and waking up in someone else's bed doesn't make you mature, it makes you a slut!"

Karen, just let words fly out of her mouth, "At least I'm getting laid, at least I'm meeting people, when's the last time you met anyone your own age?"

Kara's fists grind, "Oh, and what would you know about meeting someone your own age, I wish Michael could see you now." She snides.

Something snaps inside of Karen, "I bet you wish a lot of things don't you," Kara raised a brow, "I bet you wished you had Mark or Jimmy first." Karen wore a smug grin while Kara looked like her world shattered.

"Y-you, y-you…" Kara couldn't get the words out as tears started forming, either from anger or genuine sadness, who knows.

"Yeah, Yeah, me what, you weren't using them, so what? You're never gonna make a move, so just leave it to the ADULTS and move on."

No one said anything, Karen wore a shit-eating grin and Kara looked ready to throw-down.

In a burst of speed, followed by rushing wind, Kara floated up, flew away, all that could be heard was a whooshing noise that grew fainter by the second.

When Karen found herself alone, for only a moment she felt satisfactory in winning, over what again? But then a few seconds went by and that smug grin inverted and the sweet taste of victory turned into a sour, empty, sinking sensation. She was numbing all over and couldn't call out to her sister. She looked back and forth, hoping that Kara may come back, even if only to give her sister a piece of her mind and then Karen would beg for forgiveness.

But no, nothing.

Just a defining silence that only enhanced this numb feeling inside.

'I need a drink!' Were her next thoughts.

-Lucy-

The dark spectator for all things spooky was busy minding her own business as she went out for a walk, Salem in tow, or at least tethered to her shadow. While minding her own business that she had felt a mass of negativity pass over her. It was coming from one thing and as a shadow passed her she looked up to see Kara land beside her and looking away.

Kara may or may not have been totally aware that Lucy was next to her because the moment she announced herself, Kara jumped back in shock.

"What is wrong, Kara?" Lucy asked in her typical dry tone.

Kara looked up and felt a calmness wash over her and took a deep breath. She looked to her friend who was in a form-fitting white sweater tucked into a black pencil skirt with dark leggings and with this calming presence, Lucy felt mature and had this air of knowledge about her that made it easy to approach, maybe she'd hear her out.

~X~

Lucy had been listening very carefully to Kara retell her fight with Karen.

Kara had been allowed to hold Salem as a comfort and Lucy hummed.

"So, you are feeling as if your family refuses to acknowledge you and would prefer to treat you as a helpless adolescent?" She asked as Kara nodded.

"It sucks, they don't want me to do anything and then SHE tells me that I'm not an adult, what the hell is up with that anyway, just cause you spread 'em for whoever doesn't make you a grown up, I'm 18 and got powers, what do want from me?" She asked no one in particular.

Lucy felt Kara's anger spike again then spoke, "What exactly are you angry about? Your family treating you like you are a delicate child, your sister reminding you of your differences or her taking your romantic interests?"

Kara paused, what was she angry about, sure Karen upset her, yes her family make her feel weak and useless but past the anger there was this feeling of loneliness that welled inside, it's been there for a while actually and this thing with Karen didn't help either.

"I guess it's just, everyone leaving me alone, even you guys have to leave sometime, you said so yourselves." Kara stopped, trying to find the right words.

"Ah, so it was isolation, and having it thrown in your face by your sister?"

"Maybe… I think it started way before I even came here. Did I ever tell you how I got here?" She asked as Lucy shook her head 'no', "Well then, I think I was around 8 when my mom died.

Karen turned 14 and right after that, me, mom and dad went somewhere, I think we were visiting someone, I don't remember much about that, what I do remember is Karen being grounded for something big, for weeks.

Then mom got called back by someone. A few weeks later, we got THE call and we're burying her.

Dad never drank much as far as I knew but after… she was gone, he slid into it. It started with a couple of cans after dinner, a year later it was a few cans just to get through the day, the next year, at least a bottle every morning.

So when I was 10, he sent me and Karen here to Ma and Pa's for the summer to check himself somewhere to get help and put himself together.

Then summer passed and I thought we'd be going home, the next thing I know, we're being registered for school here in Smallville.

It wasn't bad, we could go to lots of places and everyone was nice, even Conner. Those first couple of years was great… but then the walls came up and everything changed.

And you know or maybe even saw that there's like, nobody my age?" She asked as Lucy nodded, "That's because a few months before those deathclaws showed up, a bunch of people kinda just left and I mean a bunch. Most of my graduating class and a lot of guys older than us like Karen's ex, Michael, a real standup guy. The thing is, we haven't heard from them since and everyone just assumes whatever's out there got them."

This was a bit heavy for Lucy, normally or what counts as normal these days, she and/or Lincoln hear about some slum lord or a super fascist militia faction taking over and spreading, then the two would wreck shop before they got out of control.

Lucy would always lend an ear to friends and family but honestly, this wasn't her field, she can read emotions but that doesn't make her fit to psycho-analyze anyone. But for her friend, Kara, she'd try something.

She put a reassuring hand over Kara's shoulder. "You are feeling as if everyone will abandon you?" To that Kara shrugged.

"I don't know, I guess. But what Karen said really got to me, I could leave anytime I wanted to but I never really wanted, everyone is here and we're safe, I mean, yes, sometimes I want to explore but really I just want to fly around and not have to worry about anything."

Lucy nodded, it's nice having simple needs and dreams of going wherever you want without people trying to gun you down.

Then Kara spoke up again, "What I'm really mad about is that every guy I like went after Karen instead, I mean, c'mon, I get but c'mon, I'm a knockout, right?" She turned to Lucy hoping for validation.

'7 and a half, maybe an 8,' Lucy thought before speaking, "…Sure." That at least satisfied Kara a little.

Before they continued, a familiar sight appeared in front of the two.

"Hey you guys." Came the voice of Megan who was in a simple pink dress.

Quickly, the ravenette and the blonde change the mood and turned to redhead with a smile.

~X~

The three had been making small talk when the sight of Lucy's boyfriend made his way across from them.

Lucy perked up but then felt an air of dread loom over Lincoln, she forgot the girls for a second and went over to her beloved to see if she could cheer him up.

After learning he was going to visit Slade, she offered to go with but he refused. She paid it no mind and planned to cheer him up after, maybe give IT another try.

After Lincoln left, Lucy turned back to Kara who's eyes were following him but then turned back with a blush. Lucy could feel her attraction and it wasn't a surprise, who wouldn't want her Lincoln.

But just like that, an idea formed in her dark and twisted imagination, "Hmmm."

When Lucy made her way back to her friends she spoke to Kara, "May I have a word with you, Kara?"

Megan saw it was getting a bit late and said her goodbyes wishing them well.

Now with the two alone, Kara starts, "So, uh, what's up?"

"You like Lincoln." She stated bluntly, a regular Lucy move.

Kara tensed up and tried to deny it at first, "W-what! N-no I-" She cutoff by Lucy.

"You know I can tell what you're feeling and you don't need to lie to me, I'm not mad." She told very calmly.

Kara was still distressed and probably in some hot water now, "Y-you're not?" She asked hoping it wasn't some sort of trick.

"Of course not, why wouldn't you be attracted to Lincoln, sigh, he's wonderful. But it also brings me to an idea of mine."

Kara nodded and motioned for Lucy to continue.

"I was wondering…" She left on a lull.

"Yes." Kara leaned in for more.

"What would you think…"

"Yes." Kara said getting impatient with these pauses.

"About having your fist time with Lincoln." Lucy laid it out for her.

"… My fir-" Kara paused, now registering what Lucy told her. Her face went red and she turned away.

"Yes, your first, Kara. If you are still upset about not having that kind of experience, I'm offering you a chance to have it with Lincoln *"Uh"* and myself of course."

Kara was lost in her feelings, she couldn't talk.

Lucy, sensing the fear and curiosity in her friend decided to back off a bit as not to come off too forward. "Sigh, it wouldn't have to mean anything or change anything, we wouldn't tell anyone or if you are uninterested, you can just say no but I know Lincoln would make it pleasant, I'm sure."

Kara's face goes red and she paused for a moment, "Gi… give me a minute." She flies off and is out of sight.

~X~

Five minutes go by and Lucy hadn't seen Kara yet.

"Sigh, perhaps I was too pushy, I should apologi-" As she was talking to herself, she felt, an eagerness and urgency near her she turned to see Kara back with a large wine bottle in hand.

Kara's face is still red but holds up her bottle to Lucy, "This feels like the kind of talk you'd have over a drink and honestly, I don't think I can say yes without it."

Though her eyes were covered by her hair, Lucy's brows shot up, did she really say yes?

~X~

The two had been walking back to Lucy's place, each passing the bottle back to one another while talking, not about anything in particular, just talking.

They made it inside and then a large mass of shadow ejected itself from Lucy's shadow and slides under the bathroom door.

"Sigh, it seems Salem is in a mood." Lucy said as a light blush made itself known and her lips tweaked into a small smile.

"Whatever." Kara dismissed the cat and turned to Lucy, "So, h-how's this gonna work? Do y-you just tell him, 'hey Kara's here and she's horny, do her a solid and take her r-right now', or what?" She giggled to herself as her cheeks become red.

Lucy chuckled a bit as she reaches out with her hand and the bottle that was in Kara's hand starts wobbling, earlier when Lucy pulled in towards her, it flew to her smoothly, now while under its influence, the bottle is shaking, she can't focus and what's left of their wine spills its dark liquid all over Kara's top.

The sensation was cold and unpleasant.

Just then, Kara lets out a high-pitch shriek and pulled her top off, leaving her in her white bra. Kara sees her bra is stained too and half-mindedly unhooks her brassiere but then notices Lucy staring.

The blonde covers up as Lucy let out a chuckle and Kara joins her.

The ravenette spoke up, "Well that's one way to get started but perhaps you should wait for Lincoln to arrive." Kara just rolls her eyes, "But still, I'm sure we can find you something to wear before we send you one your way-"

Lucy is interrupted by the sound of the door opening to reveal Lincoln who stops and stares at the scene before him like a deer caught in the headlights.

The girls shared a look before addressing the lone boy in the room, "~HI LINCOLN~." They slurred.

"… Huh… a distraction to be sure, but a welcomed one." He mumbles. "So, what's going on here?" He asks.

Lucy was the first to respond, "Oh, just me and Kara working on something."

"Uh-huh and does this something have to do with *SNIFF SNIFF* a bottle of Merlot, huh. I didn't think I'd ever catch you doing this Lucy, what has this town done to you?" He asks in satire.

The two tipsy girls just giggled before he continued.

"And I suppose this has something to do with Kara being shirtless." He tried to pay it no mind but both girls caught Lincoln looking back and admiring Kara's figure more than once.

Lucy smirks before she felt she looked into Lincoln and felt his casual face as a mask for a feeling of distress, one that put a damper on her moon, 'What has put you down, dear heart?' she asks herself before she remembers what she and Kara were discussing earlier.

With little more than a thought, Lucy sent out an aura that both the blonde and the silverette felt for sure.

Kara was a bit embarrassed seeing Lincoln walk in on her state of undress, even if she was heavily considering joining Lucy and Lincoln for the night, she thought there'd be a plan and they'd ease her into it. But as soon as those fears and worried reared their way into her brain, they left and were replaced with a burning sense of curiosity and excitement. Something else was burning inside her, her breathing hitched, her face got really hot and she swore she could see her own breath, something was going on.

Lincoln needed a good diversion from his talk with Slade and it seems he got it. He wasn't a fool, Lucy and a half-naked Kara, getting drunk together meant something happened or is going to happen, was it about him or them having a good time, he's not quite sure but with how frisky Lucy's been getting and her recent proposal for a change in their relationship, Lincoln's either reading too much into this or it might turn into an exciting night for him.

But he can't think like that now, after everything he just leaned and with Slade knowing about them, Lincoln has a lot to talk to with Lucy, they may need to consider leaving pretty soon.

As those thought form, he's overcome with a deep desire, a familiar feeling of when his lover want him to know she's in the mood to fool around and wants him. 'Fuck! Now, Lucy?'

Lincoln turns and tries to regain his composure, he really needs to talk with Lucy and he can't let himself be distracted.

That was until he felt Lucy hug him from behind and her large chest pressed against his back, The feeling was back and stronger this time, she really want him in the mood to ravish her, 'Maybe just a little- NO!'

He turns to tell Lucy something but she floats up and cups his cheeks in her hand and proceeds to press her lips onto his.

Lincoln feels his mind melting, his head feeling fuzzy but then he snaps out of it only to find himself hovering over the bed and dropped onto it with a bounce.

The silverette tries to get up only to find his arms and legs pinned to the bed with his limbs spread, via Lucy's TK, and speaking of, Lucy struts to the bed Lincoln's pinned on and climbs atop on her hands and knees then she perches her butt on his waist, straddling him.

Lincoln gets a good look at Lucy's face, minus her eyes, her cheeks have a faint blush, maybe from the alcohol, maybe from what they're doing in front of Kara, who knows.

Lucy whispers to her white haired lover, "Typically, this isn't the kind of bondage I'm into… but for now I want you to sit back, relax and let the pleasure take over, dear heart." She made her command as she sits back and peel off her sweater to reveal her bountiful mounds contained by a solid black bra.

Lucy leans down and peppers Lincoln's face with kisses as one of her hands points to Kara and beckons her with a 'come here' gesture.

Kara, who is taking in the enticing view sees Lucy give her the signal to join in and without hesitation, she undoes her shorts, shoes and tosses them, now she clad in white panties as she makes her way to the bed.

Lincoln bravely tried to fight off Lucy but his mind is assaulted so many times that it makes him give in to Lucy's desires for them. He actually forgot why he was refusing in the first place, 'Why was I fighting it, this is gonna be a good night.' He thinks as there seems to be an itch at the back of his head, some nagging feeling that he pushes out.

Lincoln loses himself in the many kisses that he just barely noticed the shift in weight on the bed, he turns his head and the first thing he sees are boobs. Somewhat large globes with bright pink nips, he looks up to see a glossy eyed Kara, smiling and looked to be waiting for something.

Lincoln tries to reach out for the blonde but his arms are still bound.

"Ah-Ah Lincoln, I've told you, sit back and let the pleasure take over." She highlights her point by grinding her rear on Lincoln's crotch just in time to feel something hardening, "Ah, I see someone's finally ready to listen to reason. Kara, feel free to have a turn while I get ready."

With that, Lucy floats off of Lincoln as she wobbles in the air and lands back on the floor.

Back with Lincoln, the moment Lucy got off of him, he felt the force of her TK lift but then he felt a mass climb on him again, Kara was straddling him this time.

Lincoln, even with his mind clouded, sees Kara's face and knows she not in her right mind. "Kara," he says quietly, almost in a whisper, "You were drinking, you don't want to do this and I wouldn't want you to wake up with regrets." He pleaded, almost like he's trying to argue with himself and not the blonde for some reason.

Kara responds by leaning down and smashing her lips onto his and holds onto his head. Lincoln felt the need to stop her but doesn't, even with his hands free, does he want it to stop.

The Danvers girl ends the kiss to desperately suck in some air, nearly choking on it, but then she looks back down at Lincoln, "I r-really want this, Lincoln. I only had a few drinks so I could do this," She grabs his hands and places them on her boobs. "Ah!" She gasped, "I've been w-waiting for you to do that since I met you." She told him.

Lincoln just gives in, his eyes, still glowing, dilated and he let his hands roam all over Kara's chest, squeezing them, pinching a nipple every now and again and she responds with moan and rocked her hips back and forth on his crotch like she saw Lucy do.

Kara felt something long and hard form underneath her, *GASP* 'Is that his-' She stops her thoughts as she went back to grinding on Lincoln's hard on, she felt a shiver creep up her back when it rubbed her cloth covered nub and she had to put her hands on Lincoln's chest to keep herself steady.

Lincoln felt the itch in the back of his skull gnaw at him again but it was pushed back when he saw Lucy.

She just undid her bra and let her milky white mounds flow freely. Lucy turns and undoes her skirt letting it fall and giving Lincoln a good look at her round, stocking clad butt. But then she bends over, pulling down her leggings and black panties all together as her hips sway, to get them off faster.

Lincoln was given quite the show and his attention was pulled back by Kara who pulled him up for a hot, deep kiss, her tongue quickly penetrating his mouth but it was just there, she was new to this and didn't know what she was doing, but that was fine, Lincoln could show her what to do.

He wrestled her tongue with his and to no one's surprise, he was dominating, she attempted to push back, but with Lincoln's experience and power, she was putty in his hands.

His control showed when he pushed her onto her back and continued to dominate.

Kara couldn't help but fall prey to this beast, it was obvious, he was in control and she would just be along for the ride.

The air was being sucked out of Kara's lungs and as she tried to push back to capture his breath but she was fading from the lack of oxygen.

Kara, for some reason, wasn't fighting off the darkness that was taking over but instead welcomed it, it wasn't death that was coming for her but the sheer intensity of her and Lincoln's passion that was causing her to black out (and the lack of air).

Suddenly, Lincoln let go and Kara immediately took in life-saving air. Tears were forming and she looked desperate to disengage but the big open smile she wore told another story, it said to 'keep going and really test my limits'.

She was treated to the sight of Lincoln removing his shirt and saw just how chiseled he was.

Back at the house a week earlier, she only caught a glimpse of his sculpted form. This wasn't just another boy, this was a man with rock hard abs and muscle fibers that seemed to be made of steel cables.

The MAN leans down as Kara throws her arms around his head and they pick up where they left off, Kara then wraps her legs around his waist to hold onto him even tighter.

Lincoln has had enough of taking it easy on Kara and grabs a boob with one hand and fondles her ass with the other. The blonde moans into his mouth as he doesn't let up. He feels Kara rocking her hips again and grinding her crotch onto his.

Meanwhile, a very nude Lucy was watching with enthusiasm, originally she intended Kara to make her move on a prone Lincoln but her focus weakened and she let go of him, now she wanted to see how she'd handle him, obviously she couldn't and now it's just getting hot, 'That's right, my love, show her why you're on top, make her crave you like you did me!' Lucy smirks and stalked right to the two.

Lucy hugs onto Lincoln's arm and whispers, "Mmmmhh, I hope you haven't forgotten me. I need attention too."

Lincoln breaks off of Kara and turns to Lucy with narrowed eyes, "Oh I could never forget you, Luce." He says as he takes a hand off of Kara, despite silent protest and wraps it around Lucy, grabbing a handful of her ass and plays with her just as he's doing with Kara.

Lincoln felt his body freeze and is put on his back while the girls crawl on him and plant their lips all over his face and chest. His arms were free and he traced their lovely bodies with them, as he reached their lower backs, Lucy felt his fingers slip into the folds of her womanhood and Kara felt fingers trace the outline of her pussy, Lincoln noticed a massive wet spot on her panties.

Lucy was really getting into it, "Yes, put that meeting out of your mind, Lincoln."

'Meeting,' Lincoln's head was really starting to tingle.

"Your only concern should be what you're going to do with us. Whatever Slade said to put you down, I promise, this will lift your spirit."

'Meeting… Slade-' the itch came back and something pierced the back of his brain with a sharp pain and pushed itself to the front of his mind, 'OH MY GOD!'

Lincoln's eyes revert back to how they were and just now saw where he was, Lucy and Kara were kissing and slobbering all over him.

He takes a moment to thinks about it, everything just seems to stand still, '… Dammit!' He screams in his head.

Lincoln sighs and gives the girls one last squeeze before he removes his hands from their rear and his hands glide up their chests and made his way to their faces.

The girls took this as a sign to move in on his lips.

Lucy was so lost in her own pleasure, she didn't even notice Lincoln's fingers light up with electricity until it was too late, *GASP* "Linco-"

Just like that, they were out of it. Lucy and Kara, slumped over on top of Lincoln who's wearing a scowl.

"Dammit Linc, what were you thinking." He berated himself, "It could've waited… til morning came… *Sigh* stop it Linc, it would've been wrong and you know it."

~X~

Lucy and Kara had been tucked into bed while Lincoln sat on a chair, petting Salem.

He's looking at them, it might've been creepy some time ago but now this is just a regular thing for him.

His eyes lingered on Kara and what she'd told him. Was she really that attracted to him, had she been waiting since they met to get to this point?

Then his gaze went back to Lucy, 'She must really want this to work if she's going this far with one of the few friends she has here.' He stares back at Salem who seems to be sleeping, he lays her on Lucy's chest and leaves them be.

'I guess I sort of owe it to Lucy to try things her way, we're not getting any closer and at least she's doing something about it.'

Lincoln turns to the audience he KNOWS doesn't exist, "What do you guys think?"

He knows no response can be heard but he's not sure what to do, the first time he and Lucy tried to go all the way, she freaked out, it must've been horrifying for her then. Sometime later she actually suggested they break up, Lincoln remembered his heart skipping a beat out of shock and fear.

It took convincing but they stayed together, obviously.

Lincoln takes a long look at Kara and sighs, he needs a smoke, it's felt like forever since the last time.

-Karen-

The sun rises over the Kent house and the light reveals a disheveled Karen on the porch with bags under her eyes and empty bottles, most likely booze, littered around her.

The family was understandably upset with Karen. They tolerated a lot with her, like the constant drinking. Sleeping around, being a grown woman, Karen can do what she wants so long as she's safe. But hurting Kara the way she had was a step too far.

Sure everyone treats her a bit too delicate but ever since the walls came up, the farm has had to go through a few changes here and there.

Kara was meant for flying and it's not like she's a gym-rat.

Before the whole mutant thing, the farm just made enough to feed the family and sell some for extra money, the Kent – Danvers family was content.

Now though, with resources limited and the Kent farm being one of the few in town, which was cut off from the other towns for safety, the hard but manageable work Jonathan did on his own had to be pushed onto his boys and Karen sometimes.

It's funny, Uncle Jon didn't even want the family farm when he was younger, but later in life he settled down with the peaceful and quiet town of Smallville being a good place to start his family.

But back to the farm work, it's good to have a few hands that can carry hundreds of pounds without strain, really makes things easier than having a few dozen hands that you'd probably have to pay in some way and don't get Uncle Jon wrong, he trusts his community but the people aren't above nabbing a little extra something-something from the fields they're tending or even lifting some leftover building material.

Having his boys do the work was just more convenient. There was a lot to do in terms of manual labor but again super strength and plenty of stamina made it easier, not quicker but a lot more doable.

It's not that anyone thinks less of Kara but her power would only be useful to the farm in very specific circumstances. Manual labor doesn't suit her meanwhile Karen and the boys are much quicker than her, without Lincoln, the family would have reluctantly let Kara help.

Again, no one thinks badly of her, but no one wants to see her put in twice the effort for half the results. The farm and by extension, Smallville as a whole, can't afford to halt harvesting, repairs, transport and ect just to strengthen her self-worth when it comes to work.

Karen finds herself thinking back to her argument with Kara.

She said horrible things to her little sister, telling her she wasn't an adult and that she had no value, GOD she feels like a jackass. Her sister means everything to her, since the beginning.

Before her mom died, Karen had just celebrated her 14th birthday, with her family. She skipped out on visiting one of her parent's friends just to stay home and do nothing, y'know typical city teen-girl stuff.

What she didn't count on was her friends from school to stop by and after hearing Karen was home alone. They brought their boyfriends and they invited their other friends and then other guys herd and came over.

It got out of hand but Karen didn't want to be the one to end her friends' fun. Things spiraled when idiots brought beer to the PARTY and it devolved into a pseudo-orgy dance-club type deal.

Karen hooked up with a guy she liked from school, an older boy, it wasn't great and would soon find out it wasn't worth it a few days later when she found out he had a girlfriend and he pretended not to know her.

Karen was lucky she got everyone out before her parents came back. She hid the evidence of the party as best as she could but of course, her mom found out, empty beer bottles in random places and the hidden security cameras in the house got her busted.

Angry doesn't quite cover the emotions displayed by her parents the next day. She was grounded for quote, "Until your children have children", end quote. Poor Kara didn't even know what happened and tried to cheer up her big sister as best as she could and it worked for the most part.

Then her mom was called away and died in duty.

Karen watched little by little, day by day as her life became more and more unstable. Her father became more and more broken, her sister isolated herself, it was up to Karen to hold her family together. Seeing her father drink so much had worn down her nerves and within the next two years, she found herself having a few drinks when things got hard for her.

One day, she just understood that she and her sister should not be living in conditions like theirs, so she called her Uncle Jon and Aunt Martha for help.

After working out a deal, her father agreed to go to rehab and get himself straightened out, all the while the girls would live in Smallville for the summer.

Summer came and went but their father hadn't gotten in touch with them.

One day she woke up to the sound of a car driving away and when she saw Ma and Pa, they had all of the girls' papers, birth records, forums for legalized custody and a few other things.

Their dad abandoned them.

It was clear to Karen almost immediately and that led to some troubled years until HE showed up.

Michael Holt, Karen's rock. Tall, black and a real gentleman, Michael was what Karen needed to keep from drifting away.

But all good things come to an end, after the walls came up, more than a few people wanted to leave and see what else was there, a lot of people in Kara's age group and plenty from Karen's and above.

Karen and Michael got into a huge fight about leaving Smallville together, Michael felt trapped and wanted to maybe start a family with Karen, she was just fine where she was and wanted thing to stay the same.

Some things were said and Karen's temper may have flared at the wrong time, Michael broke it off with her and stayed away.

Karen spent her free time drinking and then she happened across a guy, nervous about leaving.

She proposed and idea, while intoxicated and popped that guy's cherry, she woke up the next day feeling disgusted but when the guy thanked her, she had this weird, fuzzy feeling about it and so she did it again and again, eventually finding a few of her sister's classmates in bed with her including a former crush and a close friend.

It's weird, she couldn't remember their names until she threw it back in Kara's face, and now she can't recall what it was.

The group departed a few months before the incident with the deathclaws and no one's heard from them since.

And then Lincoln and Lucy came into town, Lincoln was something special. There was something foreign yet familiar about him, he was powerful and dangerous and just held this aura of authority that was similar to Slade and there have been times when she's hit up the lieutenant just to be shot down, just like Lincoln.

It's not that she's suddenly in love with this stranger, but the rejection, the mystery and curiosity surrounding this man peeks her interest. Lucy too, for similar reasons, being connected to Lincoln just makes her interesting too.

Back to the porch, Karen had waited all night for her sister to come home and everyone knows better than to bother her about this.

'Where would she go?' The though terrified her, had her sister finally taken off, for good? No, that can't be, even if Kara wanted to Leave, she'd go back for her stuff, some of it at least, there were things she valued and would never leave without.

The only place she'd go is into town but she hardly has a friend there, 'Well maybe except for Lucy and Lin-' She pauses as he has a thought, 'She wouldn't, would she? I mean I did rub it in her face that she's still not a woman yet… but she wouldn't… not with him… right?' Her thoughts raced.

Kara would turn to friends to put her up for the night to get away from her sister but that's the thing, all of her friends are gone, except for Lucy and Lincoln. Would she go to him for sex, normally, Karen would say no but after yesterday, she's not sure and sure Kara was an adult and could do what she wanted but this feels like something Karen would do and she knows she's not right in the head, the question is does she think Kara might do what she's thinking.

Karen springs up and walks to the truck but then stops to think, she been up all night and had more than a few in her, she didn't feel buzzed but…

*SIGH* "Looks like I'm running." And she runs down the road into town.

~X~

With the sun out, Karen's barely working up a sweat as she makes it into town. She sees people walking around as they got ready for the day and makes her way to the motel for Lincoln and Lucy.

She approached their door and grabs onto the knob but then she hears something.

*CLAP CLAP CLAP* That clapping noise makes her heart drop, she was too late, Kara was getting it on with Lincoln… or maybe that was just Lincoln with Lucy, they are together, maybe Karen was just jumping to conclu- "OH, wow Lincoln, that's amazing!"

Karen nearly had a heart attack. That was definitely her sister's voice. Kara was being screwed by the sexy, sexy drifter and here she was listening to the clapping of their flesh.

What right did she have to barge in on her sister's sex-life, she pretty much brags about it all the time to her anyway.

This kind of hurts in a way, Kara was making a mistake, doing this just to prove a point, it might do something for her now but down the line she may come to regret it, just like her first time.

And God-forbid, there was an accident and her baby-sister got knocked-up, would this bastard even be there for her, yes Lincoln is a hot piece of meat but that doesn't mean he gets a free pass.

Unknown to her, her hand starts glowing and the knob is getting redder and redder.

'And why Kara anyway, I was here AND throwing myself at him, oh this is just like her, to hold a grudge and strike where she knew where it'd hurt.' Karen thought before-

*SSSSSSSSSH*

There was a high-pitch boiling sound coming from Karen's hand and as she looked down she saw the door knob was glowing and the locking mechanism was burning through the wooden frame.

*CREEEAAAK*

The door wobbled free from her end to reveal a shirtless Lincoln, who had been doing clapping push-ups. Kara was on a bed watching Lincoln work out and Lucy was nowhere in sight.

When the creaking sound was made, the blonde and silverette turned to see a stunned Karen who looked like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Karen said nothing for a while until her cheek brightened and she gasped out, "Wow, you should get that looked at, see you at home Kara!" With that, she ran off, her body emitting a glow before taking off at high speeds.

Lincoln and Kara said nothing but then the bathroom door opened and out came Lucy.

"Lincoln what was that sound earlier, is everyth-" She stopped to see the partially melted door knob and burnt frame, "What happened?" She asked in her dull voice.

Kara sighed, "My sister happened."

-XxX-

After Lincoln and Lucy sent Kara on her merry-way, the two had fell into a silence, Salem had emerged from Lincoln's shadow and hopped into Lucy's arms.

"Sigh, Lincoln I know last night did not appear ideal to you but I assure you, Kara and I had come to an agreement before you even found us in our minor state of intoxication. Honestly, this was on yo-"

"Slade knows!" Lincoln interrupted her.

"… Knows… knows what?" She asked.

"About US, he KNOWS, Lucy." Lincoln said with an edge, hoping she understood.

Though her hair covered her eyes, Lincoln could see the gears turning and when her mouth gaped he knew, she knew.

"Yes, Lucy, he knows who we are." He continued, "Last night I wanted to bring this up… we might have to disappear." That was code for run away.

Lucy gulped, "What happened?"

~X~

Lincoln had explained from start to finish what happened in their meeting.

"Sigh, so you mean you slipped up and outed us both." She stated bluntly.

Lincoln hung his head in shame and mumbled, "…yeah."

Lucy nodded, "It'll be alright, my love, though we may have been exposed by Slade, he claimed uninterested in letting others know." She reasoned, Slade seemed alright and excepting, if only a little weird, with their encounter with him and his group a while back, she has a few thoughts about him, he might be a little insane but that remains to be seen.

Lincoln looked serious, "Right because EVERYONE we meet is soooo trustworthy," He says with obvious sarcasm, "We may have to accelerate our plan."

"Sigh, are you referring to and I quote 'operation; find our way to the border, get word back home and leave this God forsaken hellhole' end quote"

"Hey! I shortened it!" He points out.

"Oh yes, operation; let's get the hell out of here. But on a more serious note, these people have been nothing but kind and it's kind of off putting for us but maybe that's a good thing here.

I understand Slade knowing may put us at risk but no more than it has in the past *"except now he has our names, that won't be good for us IF we get back home"* WHEN-when we get back and sure this might be a problem later but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Lucy takes one of Lincoln's hand into her own, "We'll make it through this, we always do."

Lincoln takes a moment to think and he nods to Lucy, silently he cues that he's willing to stay in Smallville until the time is right.

With a small smile, Lucy takes off.

"Where are you going?" Lincoln asks.

"To talk to Kara," this alarmed Lincoln, "After last night, I want to confirm her feelings and maybe let her know WE may have to leave sooner than later. I'd rather we not pretend last night didn't happen and talk it through."

Lincoln looked down to think on it and then he looked at her and nods, Lucy floats away and Lincoln is left alone.

"I guess I better tell Slade about the door." He talks to himself and makes his way out.

-Kara-

After getting back home, Kara is met with the sight of her older sister.

The two blondes refused to look at one another for some time.

Kara typically knows how this goes, this silence goes on until she makes the first mov-

"I'm sorry." Karen spoke first shocking her little sister.

"W-what-"

"I'm sorry for what I said, I know I'm such a horrible sister to you *"No you're-"* Yes I am and you don't need to pretend I'm not. I ignored you… a lot, I've kept things from you, I know you've been really lonely and I just stood on the sidelines thinking nothing was wrong and worst of all when you came to us wanting to help, I threw it back in your face and even went so far as to hurt you again. I'm sorry… I don't know what's wrong with me…"

Kara felt that her sister wanted to keep going but didn't know what else to say.

It's true, Kara's been very lonely, that is until Lucy and Lincoln came into town, she's still feeling alone but now there's some excitement back in her life.

After what happened the other day, Kara wasn't sure she'd even want to talk with Karen and even thought Karen's hasn't been doing a very good job of being a big sister lately, she's still trying at least and that's something.

Karen wants to keep going but came to a stop, she wanted to talk about her feelings and get something off her chest but couldn't find the words or didn't want to let them out, but that doesn't matter now as her baby sister pulls her into a hug.

"Thank you." Karen says as they both have a moment in silence before letting go, "So now that we've cleared the air, wanna tell me what you were doing with Lincoln and Lucy." She says with a grin and Kara's face reddens.

"N-nothing, they put me up for the night." She defends herself.

Karen doesn't look convinced and looks her up and down, "Uh-huh, so what's with that stain?"

Kara looks on her chest to see the big wine spill over her shirt, "Oh, uh, that's-"

"It was juice."

"AHHH!" Both sisters jump in fright to the ominous voice of Lucy, the ebon-haired, floating specter of a woman beside them.

"LUCY, you gotta stop doing that!" Kara yells out. She looks over to her sister who was holding her chest, trying to catch her breath.

"My apologies, but I needed to talk to you in private, Kara." The young blonde nodded.

~X~

In the privacy of Kara's room, the two friends were on the blonde's bed.

Kara was waiting for her ebon-haired friend to begin.

Lucy was nervous, 'Can you really do this? You know Lincoln wouldn't approve but Kara has been plague by secrets, lies and hidden agendas, if THIS is going to continue then you need to come clean, she deserves the truth after what you almost let her do with Lincoln.'

Lucy was debating with herself as Kara was having a mild panic attack, 'Oh God, why did I do this. She's probably mad about how I just threw myself at Lincoln, I can't believe we almost did it. Wait- what happened after we made out… I woke up in my underwear and Lincoln was fully dressed, did last night happen or am I just crazy and dreamt it all up, am I still drea-'

Kara is broken out of her thoughts when Lucy coughs into her fist.

Lucy could feel Kara's distress, presumably over her and what they both did together.

"Sigh, about last night Kara," this alarmed her, "I must apologize that we could not go all the way as intended but Lincoln needed to convey something to me and was in no mood to fool around with us and thusly ended our night, even though he hates himself for it." She mused at the end.

Kara was having a fit, 'We really were gonna do it,' Her face flushed and her eyes could not meet Lucy's face, 'I was really about to- wait Lincoln stopped it?'

Lucy continues, "And I must apologize again, for using my powers to suppress your inhibitions, truth be told, you probably didn't need it after what was in you but it just happened, if you feel as though I've crossed a line, I'll understand if you cannot look at me the same way…" Lucy left it out there.

Kara was at a loss, she just found out what happened last night really happened and… she's still a virgin. But here was Lucy apologizing for something she decided on.

*Sigh* "Lucy, thank you for… wanting to own up to last night but I made those choices because I wasn't sure I could say yes any other way, right now, I'm glad it didn't happen that way, especially since I couldn't remember what exactly went down… but I'm not mad, really." She assured her friend.

Lucy flickered a smile and cleared her throat, "Well… good, now onto another matter. Are you still interested in what we talked about?" She asked.

Kara blushed again, "You mean joining you guys?" Lucy nods, "Well… I mean… I'd have to think about it." She was too shy to say yes and didn't want to say no.

Lucy nodded to herself, "Very well then, but if we are to continue from the other night at a later date, then you need to know the truth." Lucy's heart was racing.

"W-what truth?" Kara asked hesitantly.

Lucy's insides were fluttering as she struggled to get the words out, "When I told you, I've known Lincoln all my life, that wasn't hyperbole. It's fair to say HE'S known me all my life… because he was there…" She paused as Kara leaned in.

The blonde was at a loss, 'What's she trying to tell me exactly?' She thought.

"In fact you could say he's a part of my family, sigh… because he is *"W-wait what"* L-Lincoln… at one point… was someone I once called… brother."

She finally said it, Lucy turned her face as not to gauge Kara's reaction but could still feel it.

Suffice to say, Kara had not seen that coming. Shocked, was her initial reaction, a little frightened over this revelation and some clarity over the double meanings Lucy had been dropping when they talked. Now, Kara felt something churning inside of her, she's heard about things like this, especially in jokes targeted at communities like hers.

A brother and sister shacking up, 'Ar-is she serious… with her brother!" She screamed in her head.

Just as Kara had opened her mouth, Lucy's hand rose and kept her from talking.

"Before you say anything, he's not related to me or my family."

Kara looks down then back to Lucy, "I'm not sure if that's any better *"I-I-"* You've known him for how long- wait no, you grew up together *"But he-"* seriously, with your brother *"I don't see him tha-"* what is wrong with you two?

Y'know, maybe the reason you can't go all the way is because you know it's not right! And HIM, he's definitely got some screws loose to prey on his own sister like that-"

"STOP!" Lucy yelled at Kara as she flinched back as a feeling that could only be described as DOOM was all around her. "I only told you… because I thought you would give me a chance to explain how it happened, because I thought you'd be accepting, because I thought you were different…" Lucy looks down, "But I guess I was wrong… again." Lucy looked at Kara with fury written over her face, "I should have kept my mouth shut, had I known you would have thrown it all back in my face and remind me how much of a FREAK I am, then I never would have told you anything!" She growled.

Kara was drawing a blank, "I… I-I" Lucy had come to her with an important secret. She could have been a touch more sympathetic or at least merciful in her dismissal for their forbidden relationship.

Lucy shut off her empath, she didn't want to feel the disgust that was coming her way, she couldn't bare it a second time, "I suppose you don't have to worry about another friend leaving you-we'll be gone by morning!"

With that Lucy levitated and flew out of the room, down the stairs, flew past Karen, opened the door with her mind and was gone.

Kara was still stunned, sitting on her bed and stammering a response as if Lucy hadn't left.

It was then that Karen had entered her little sister's room.

"Knock, knock," She said before pausing at her sister muttering something, "Kara… Care-bear… K-DAWG… BABY SIS!" She shouted while violently shaking Kara by the shoulder.

"Wha-what, what happened… Lucy!" Kara shouted in realization.

Karen looked concern to say the least, "Sis, what happened, Lucy just took off, she looked pretty pissed too."

Kara took a second to look her sister in the eyes, 'Maybe she'll understand, that or blab, ugh whatever, they're gonna be gone… cause of me.' She thought somberly.

Kara sighed and began her long explanation.

~X~

Karen just stood silently and stared at her sister.

Kara was having seconds thoughts of having told her sister what she just lear-

*SLAP*

Kara's face was now facing a wall and her cheek was blistering red from a stinging pain, "Wh-what-"

"You asshole!" Karen shouted at her sister. *"Wait what-"* "Your first friend in months, MONTHS and when she tells you something like this, opens up to you, you blow up like that, throw it all back in her face."

Kara has been more inclined to stay in her 'shell' these days, Lucy got her excited to go out.

"Look I get that all your friends ditched you to go exploring the dead-zone but the first girl your age to stick around and trusted you enough with her secret, hell even invited you to share her man, to which I'm still mad about, I never would've thought YOU of all people would turn on her.

I mean, with all that Asian-comic, animoo crap you're always watching, I thought you'd be into it."

Kara countered, "But they're brother and sister-"

"So," Karen said plainly, "She told you, they're not blood, what's the harm, hell, Lincoln's adopted, I say he's fair game."

Kara tilted her head, "How can you be so… nonchalant about this?"

Karen narrowed her eyes, "Kara, you've known them a while now, do they seem like bad people to you?"

"I… uh, no," She said quietly.

"… do you remember those raiders almost a year ago, the ones that shot uncle Jon? *"Yeah"* do you think they were bad people, *"Well yeah, they almost tore up the farm, almost killed Pa"* right, so do you think people like them just came from nowhere?"

Kara wasn't sure what she was getting at.

"People like them didn't exist six years ago, they were probably normal people, with normal lives until they got trapped in this nightmare with the rest of us and had to do whatever they could to survive, even attacking other people for scraps, *"what's your point"* my POINT is why aren't Lincoln and Lucy like that?

Bet you anything Lincoln's balls hadn't dropped before he had to step up as the man and had to look after Lucy, who knows what they went through, all the while, we've been pretty lucky to be where we are, we never had a rough go of it like those two.

Maybe when all you have is each other, you stop seeing what's so wrong about it, at least they're not related, maybe THEY can make it work, I don't know.

But is this something worth losing a friend over?" Karen was about to leave when she turned back to her sister, "And make up your mind fast, cause if you're out then I'm taking your spot." Kara could only give her sister a shocked and disgusted look, "What, he's not MY brother." She smirked before walking off.

-XxX-

After explaining the situation to Slade, Lincoln made his way back to his place, with a new key to the room next door.

Lincoln had gotten back to his room when he heard sniffling.

Worry ensued when Lincoln saw his former sister turned lover with her back turned to him and her shoulders rising and falling as she dry-heaved with heavy sobs.

"L-Lucy?" He tries to get her attention but his soft voice was overpowered by her cries, He walks up behind her and sees Lucy holding herself, "Lucy." He said firmly this time but she still hadn't turned.

Then he wraps his arms around her waist, and she jumped at his touch but soon melted into it as her sobs grew softer and softer.

"Lucy, what happened?" He asked before she broke free from his embrace and turned to face him. Lincoln could see her face streamed with black streaks from her eyeliner. For just a moment, a dark feeling crept up Lincoln's spine and a voice put it into words, 'Whoever did this to her is a dead man!' His darker thoughts took hold but for a moment until he steered himself out of it and brought her back into a hug, 'Lucy comes first, nothing else matters.'

Lucy buried her face into Lincoln's chest and breathed heavily, she composes herself enough to mutter something.

Lincoln couldn't hear her, "What was that, Luce?"

She lifted herself off of him to show her face and looked him in the eyes, "I told Kara… about us and… she didn't take it well." She said with more misery in her voice than apathy.

At first Lincoln was understandably upset, he assumed Lucy was going to talk Kara through what happened, not straight up tell her 'hey I'm sort of banging my step-brother, sorry I didn't tell you last night when we were about to get down with him'.

Lucy's face told him not to get angry, instead just hold me, please.

And so he did.

~X~

A familiar sight; the two laying in a bed together as Lucy held onto Lincoln and buried herself deep into his embrace.

Lucy had told him what she told Kara and her… reaction, the judgment and finally; her feelings toward Lucy.

Lincoln hated seeing her like this, it's hard enough for her to make any lasting friendship and with them constantly moving, and it's even harder to find anyone to confide in. Sure HE was someone she go to but Lucy needs confidants that will keep her secrets from Lincoln, preferable female is a given. To find someone who she could trust in such a short time was rare and to even invite them into their relationship was a huge risk on its own, then telling that person the nature of her and Lincoln's connection was just another risk and well… her luck couldn't pull through this time, or maybe this wasn't a secret to tell someone you've known such a short time.

At first, Lincoln wanted to tear Kara a new one, maybe that was 'the protective boyfriend' in him talking and not 'the monster' in him but either way he pulled himself from those thoughts fast.

Now would be a pretty good time to get some chocolate or ice cream but unfortunately, Lucy's grip isn't letting up but he can stay with her and run his hand over her in comfort.

"So, do you want to get out of here?" Lincoln asked her.

Lucy took the chance to look him in his molten golden-amber eyes, her lips quivered and her hands shook, "I-I want to-"

-Kara-

It had gotten dark, nearly the whole day passed her by as she laid in bed thinking.

She had a few naps, maybe they would provide some insight, no, her dreams were blank and right now, her own words rang through her head.

Her thoughts raced as she continues to ask herself question after question.

Why did she say that to her? Why couldn't she let Lucy say her piece before judging? Does she have the right to judge?

Then her thoughts circle back to her sister. Just the other day, Karen had made her feel like crap and now she did the same to Lucy, and she was confiding in her.

Was she a bad friend? Maybe, she sure wasn't a supportive one or a very understanding one. Did Lucy deserve any of what she said, not really, Lucy could've said nothing and she'd be none the wiser.

Why would she drive Lucy away, she wasn't hurting anybody and Lucy trusted her enough to come forward, and how does she return the gesture…? She's lost too many friends, all of which are probably dead for all she knows and now she's throwing away another because this thing was her brother was… unusual to say the least and down-right wrong at most.

'But they're not related…' Same diff, they grew up together, 'But they're hardly the same people they should've been had THIS not happen.' Why is she arguing over this, it's pretty straight forward… right?

*Sigh* "Maybe a little stroll will clear my head." She tells herself.

Kara opens a window and floats out of her house.

~X~

Kara had flown by the motel, it was obvious what she was doing there, and after a 15 minute flight, she knew WHY?

'I need to apologize,' She's still uncomfortable about what went down that morning but it changes nothing, Lucy is still her friend and hopefully she'll still think that too.

After Landing in front of their door, Kara held out her fist, prepared to knock but stopped herself.

Could she do it, can she make amends, keep her friend and let her say her piece?

Alright, she can do this.

*Knock- CREEEEAAAAK*

That's right, Karen ruined their door. Even so, as rude as it was, Kara peeked in side and saw… nothing.

The beds were stripped clean, bags were nowhere in sight, absolutely no trace of Lincoln or Lucy.

'What's going on here, why aren't they here, it's not like they'd pack up and lea-' Her thoughts took a pause as she remembered what Lucy told her.

You don't have to worry about another friend leaving you-we'll be gone by morning.

She was too late, they were gone and it was all her fault.

Why was she such an ass, yes they were step-siblings and maybe it was better than the alternative but it still felt sort of wrong then. Now, she couldn't care less, Lucy was nice and sort of creepy but she wasn't too in your face about it, she genuinely cares about her and their talks were proof of that.

Kara walked out of the empty room, covering her mouth as tears flowed free. She couldn't help it, knowing that she won't have the chance to apologize, punched her right in the gut. Kara was whimpering, trying to get a hold of herself but the tears kept gushing as cries escaped her covered mouth.

'I'd give anything to have a chance to say sorry to you Lucy, my comics, games, hell even a full kiss on the mouth-'

"Kara?"

She was caught off guard by the voice of Lincoln. She turned to see Lincoln holding Salem by the scruff of her neck as he looked surprised to see her here.

-XxX-

-Earlier-

Lucy had fallen asleep on the new bed, of their new room. It was about as big as the old one but with only one bed, it was good enough for them at least.

On the night stand next to them, Lincoln had made a frozen sculpture; A vase with a bouquet of flowers, each an icy-blue. Lucy loved it when Lincoln made his ice sculptures, especially of her, the cast of her visage in frozen form really brought out the cold emptiness of her existence. Lincoln always manages to cheer her up.

Lincoln wasn't surprised that Lucy chose to stay here, she didn't want to leave just yet, truthfully, he thinks with things being as hard as they are to make friends, Lucy wasn't ready to give up on Kara yet.

Now, they were cuddling.

Lincoln was watching her sleep soundly, when something caught his attention.

*Thud*

Something hit the floor, Lincoln looked to the nightstand and saw Salem, the fuzzy, black, pain in his ass. She was doing that thing cats do and was pushing crap off of shelves.

The black cat made her way to the frozen vase full of ice flowers as Lincoln's eye widen then narrowed.

"Don't you dare." He quietly screamed at the cat.

Salem was either paying him no mind or continued to spite him, pushed his sculpture closer and closer to the edge.

"Oh, you are on thin ice, missy." She pushed it again, "I mean it, knock it off." One more push, "I swear to God, if you-" *Crunch*

Just like that, the sculpture was broken over the floor, thankfully it wasn't a loud crash, Lincoln wanted Lucy to sleep, without any interruptions.

Lincoln narrowed his eyes as they glowed something fierce.

Beside Salem, a duplicate Lincoln appeared and reached over the cat, menacingly.

Salem tried to jump into the nearest shadow, only for her neck scruff to be grabbed by clone Lincoln.

"Sabrina can't save you this time, cat. You wanna be like that right now, okay, you can be an outside cat, tonight."

Clone Lincoln took Salem outside and paused when he heard someone crying, it was close too. He turned to see Kara, at first he was pretty angry to see her but with a second look, he really couldn't find it in him to be an ass to her.

And so he called out to her, "Kara." She turned and saw him.

Kara ran up to him and revealed her tear stained face to the man.

"L-Lincoln… please tell me Lucy's still here!" She shouted to him.

"Shhh, okay, seriously. Also yes and why are you here, I don't think she'd like to see you now."

Even though Kara could barely make him out, she still pleaded with him, the added tears and quivering lip were only adding to the desperation in her voice, "Please…"

Lincoln and Salem looked at her with narrowed eyes, he tried to be angry but he just couldn't, he resigned with a small sigh and led her to his new room.

Kara walked into the new residence of Lincoln and Lucy, then she saw on a lone bed, the pseudo-incestuous couple, cuddled in a more wholesome sense than anything that may have gone on in Kara's head.

Clone Lincoln let go of Salem who ran like mad into Lucy's shadow.

The real Lincoln looked over to see Kara, he wasn't pleased but let it go when his duplicate put a hand up. Lincoln looked down at Lucy then back at Kara and knew what he had to do. He jostled Lucy awake and saw her try to go back to sleep while snuggling up to Lincoln once more.

"Lucy, you need to get up, someone needs to speak with you."

"Sigh, can't it wait until sunrise, the dark atmosphere reminds me of the ever-expanding void inside of my being… wait, who wants to talk to me?"

Kara makes herself know, "Uh… me…"

Lucy fully turns over and sees an awkward Kara, trying her best to keep eye contact.

"Sigh, what are you doing here, if you're here to run us out of town, I-"

"Luce!" Both Lincolns called out, "I don't think, she's here to hurt you anymore than she has, have you?" the real Lincoln asks directly at the blonde, who shakes her head.

Lucy looks to her with a softer gaze, "Then why are you here?"

Kara takes a moment to choose her next words carefully, "I wan-no I needed to apologize to you, I was a jerk, I was small minded and judged without giving you the chance to speak, and I know I hurt you, but please… know that I am sorry, I should have never said those things to you.

If you don't want to see me again, I understand, but if you still want to talk, to explain how this happened… I'll listen." Kara said with sincerity, Lucy could feel it too.

Lucy stared at her and sighed, "I… alright… I want to tell you everything." Then Lincoln removed himself from her side and made his way to the door as the clone was reabsorbed into him, "Lincoln?"

"This isn't something you need me here for, I'll be back with food, how long do you think you'll need?"

Lucy thought on it, "Maybe a few hours." Lincoln nods and made his way out.

The two remaining women stared for a moment, until Lucy opened her mouth, "I should probably start from the very beginning?"

Kara nods, "Yeah, that's probably for the best, if there are parts you can't tell me, don't feel pressured, just… tell me what you can.

To that, Lucy nods and began her long tale.

~X~

Silence, Kara was quiet.

Lucy had gone over, practically he entire life's story.

Both had tear stains along their cheeks. For Kara, she just heard Lucy's tale, her perspective on everything she's been through, she spared no detail and even shared the origins of her bedroom troubles. For Lucy, she just reopened old wounds and being the empath, felt the overwhelming sadness and misery leaking from Kara.

The blonde had no idea what to say, after everything she's heard, tragedies upon tragedies on both Lucy's and Lincoln's part. And then there was Lincoln, good God, he's changed so much and to hear what he's gone through to become what he is, honestly, she's more terrified of him than when she first met him and probably hit 9.5 on her major danger-o-meter, seriously.

The two sat in what was now daybreak, the sun had risen, half an hour ago.

Lucy had wiped her eyes, pushing her bangs apart, finally giving Kara a good look at her face and she had to admit, Lucy is very pretty.

Lucy looked into Kara's bright-blue eyes with her own glowing neon-blues, Kara hadn't paid it any mind, right now she was more focused on what she just learned about her friend.

"And that brings us to now…" She leaves it off their.

Kara looked down, "God, I feel like a whiney little bitch, for real. I'm griping about my friends leaving me when I could've gone with them and you and Linc had to fight like mad every day just to make it through life.

And you both having to do it day in and day out for years, jeez, I was giving you a hard time for being with Lincoln, meanwhile all the sickos and nut-jobs you dealt with…" It makes her skin crawl just thinking about it, "… I'm sorry, I had no right to come down on you so hard, especially when you had to go through so much already, I've been living comfortably here, complaining about my family not respecting me it-" She cutoff.

"Enough, you've made your point Kara. I get it, you're sorry. There's no need to go in like this." She told the blonde.

"But, I've been acting like no one knew how I felt, you been in worse spots, you've gone through worse on your first day after ground-zero and you can't just seem to catch a break."

"Sigh, Kara, if there is anything I've learned on my long journey through this wasteland, it's not about who's had it worse or who's endured more, what's important is that we all make a connection by willing to understand one another, pain is just one of those things that helps bring people together. Shared trauma can build bridges too, they are what connected Lincoln and myself when our old bridges were torn apart."

"Speaking of Lincoln… I know you two patched things up years ago but are you sure you want to be with… HIM. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's a lot better than what he was before… but still, after what he's done, you're alright with that."

Lucy tilted her head, "I couldn't be happier, it's those experiences that helped make Lincoln such an amazing person," Kara was taken back by her response. "Sometimes he agonizes over the acts he's committed and it drives him to be a better person, even though he doesn't see it, I think it makes him even better than he was when we first began our journey."

Kara was confused, thankfully Lucy wasn't finished.

"Sigh, tell me Kara, have you ever heard of Saint Irenaeus' interpretation on Theodicy?" She asked as her friend shook her head 'no', "Sigh, well, I won't bore you with a philosophical lecture on morality that branches into a multitude of models.

But the Irenaean Model postulated by Saint Irenaeus believes; Moral Perfection can only be reached when a human suffers from evil and freely chooses goodness instead." Kara thinks on it and nods in understanding, "And that is how I see my Lincoln, he was once innocent as a newborn, concerned only with our safety, down the line, he lost himself and gave in to the darker aspects of himself.

After his brush against death's scythe, he reassessed his life choices and even though he hadn't change on the spot, he decided on a different course of life. He's tried many different things to steer from the path he was on, and now that he can no longer loose himself to alcohol or recreational drugs, he has to conscientiously make better choices when going forward.

He doesn't always know the best way to go through life, I'll admit but he tries to be better.

He is not an innocent child, nor a hateful juvenile, but now, I'm proud to say he has grown into a caring and accepting man who's known love and hatred, one I love with all my heart."

Lucy finishes as Kara pondered on her words.

The two just looked at each other as if to say something but then they heard the door open.

Lincoln stepped in with trays in his hands and the heavenly smell of breakfast food filled their nostrils as their stomachs erupted in growls.

The two gained a pink hue to their cheeks before Lincoln set the trays on the bed.

"Man, I am sooo glad that diner opens early, even happier the guy let me make our breakfast, no fuss." He announced.

Lincoln looked the two girls in the eyes before turning away.

Lucy spoke up, "Lincoln, I told Kara-"

"Yeah, I got it, don't worry." He assured her.

Then Kara wanted to say something, "Lincoln, I just want to say… I-"

"Nope! Sorry, but I don't need to know or hear what it is," The two tried to speak again before he put a hand up, "Not everything that wants to be said, needs to be heard, I can see you both made up, maybe?" He asked as they shared a look and nodded, "Good, and Kara *"Yes"* if you every make Lucy cry like that again, I'll make whatever she told you about me look like a fairytale compared to what I WILL DO. Capeesh?" Kara nodded furiously, "Fantastic, now come get some food before it gets cold, we're having pancakes, bacon, eggs and hash browns."

The two friends joined for breakfast and face a new day together.

-XxX-

It's been a while since the reveal to Kara, and known to Lincoln and Lucy, Karen is aware of the situation and has occasionally been giving subtle hints (as subtle as Karen can get) to the two, specifically to Lincoln, that she's interested.

It was awkward enough before she knew but now…

~XxX Flashback XxX~

When Lincoln first came to the Kent Farm, the first thing he was to do was to help turnover some vacant space or y'know plowing fields. That wouldn't be too much of an issue, normally, but years of a broken-down plow and no replacement meant that it needed to be done manually.

With a wide assortment of powers, one being a minor form of geokinesis, Lincoln ripped through the land with ease, when needing to break apart some things tougher than soil, Lincoln had no problem getting in the field and working by hand.

By the end, Lincoln had a light coating of dirt, nothing bad. With a hand gesture, he pulled the dirt off of him and tossed it back on to the land and went to the storage barn for a towel.

He understands why Clark would have a hard time, the others are doing something else and without one of them it would get so much more time consuming, without the proper equipment, normal people couldn't do this in a reasonable time, not without a lot of help at least.

Between 3 individuals with superior strength, outdated tools and a lack of automated machinery, there is plenty to do on the farm by hand. Lincoln puts those thoughts on hold as he remembers what he's looking for and approached the barn.

When he opened the door he was surprised by the sight of Karen.

She had her back turned to him while moving a lot of bagged soil/fertilizer but that wasn't the problem, it was her attire.

Karen was dressed in cutoff jean-shorts, a plaid shirt tied into a crop top, exposing her midriff and then traveling down her long, creamy legs to cowboy boots.

Lincoln couldn't be keep his eyes off her figure, even from behind it was clear, this is a woman's body, curvaceous, toned, strong and the color that told of a healthy partner who could come back for mor-

*BAM*

The door to the barn slammed shut, most likely from the wind. Karen turned and Lincoln wished she hadn't.

"Oh!" She shouted with a smile, "You're done already," Lincoln gave a firm nod, "Damn! That was quick, Clark's still out, chopping the morning wood."

Lincoln did a double take, "W-What! *"Y'know, fire wood,"* Oh. So, uh… I was told there was stuff to help me clean up."

"Oh yeah, sure, hang on." Karen said as she walked to a stall and came back with a nice clean towel. Lincoln took it with a thanks and when he looked at Karen, he could have sworn her top buttons were undone and gave a clear view of her deep cleavage that accented her large chest and when she stepped back they jiggled while she laughed.

Lincoln flushed, she was getting to him.

"Y'know, Linky, I'm really looking forward to spending time with you, since you're gonna be working here a while." She said as he was wiping himself down, Karen eyed him from top to bottom and smirked.

When Lincoln was done he saw the retreating form of Karen and with every step she swayed her hips with purpose that gnawed at his attention and when she made her way to another pile of bags, she bent down and grabbed at the pile.

That wasn't proper form, not the way you lift something, is what Lincoln's thoughts should have been, but no, he was too busy checking out that ass. It didn't help that it swayed even while she was station.

'Goddammit, get a hold of yourself,' Lincoln thought and should have turned but didn't, 'Maybe just a few more seconds wouldn't hurt,' His thoughts reasoned, and they were making some sense.

Suddenly, Karen got serious and picked up her load, as she made her way back to Lincoln she stopped in front and asked him, "So, when we're done, how about I give you a ride? *"WHAT"* back to town," Then she walked past him and got to the door. *"oh"* "Then maybe we can test out your new bed, see how many rounds you can last with me."

She smirked as she saw Lincoln's face light up with shock.

~XxX End Flashback XxX~

Forget it.

Lincoln had been helping around the farm like he promised and there was quite a bit to do.

When your community depends on some of the farms around, they need to put in a lot.

Lincoln could see why Conner was needed, it wasn't as if there were too many things to do but it was physically demanding, though because of his enhanced stamina, Lincoln could keep up no problem but without people like him, you'd need a large team for how much needed to be done.

Even til this day, the Kent's are trying to expand their unused land to prepare for their next batch

Lincoln has been having a pleasant and relaxing time working with Jon and Clark, tending fields, moving supplies, delivering goods to other parts of Smallville. Some repairs and the removal of an overgrown and rotting tree, in fact it was this one job that got Lincoln into an interesting agreement.

~XxX Flashback XxX~

Conner had been held up in his room for the last week and he had been going stir crazy.

Outside of his window, he saw his dad, brother and Lincoln working all over, getting a lot more done in one afternoon, than he and Clark ever did, he felt down with that.

Sometime later, he saw Lincoln taking apart that old tree that was just taking up space, that was on Conner's list but… something always came up.

*Sigh* Conner looks away from the window and sees a pile of books, he thinks for a moment and shakes his head, "Nah."

He'd rather go back to watching grown men work than read a book. But back to the window, Conner had to do a double take when he saw three Lincoln's.

The three had taken apart the tree like it was nothing, two of them ripping it apart with their bare hands, on second thought his hands looked different, 'Is he wearing metal gloves?"

The one free Lincoln had been moving the discarded part somewhere else and looked back to the house, exactly where Conner was looking from and waved. Conner awkwardly moved away from the window and looked back to see the Lincoln's back to work.

~X~

Later in the kitchen, Conner had come down for some water and saw Lincoln through the window there.

Lincoln was just crouching to the ground his back to Conner but was moving something across the dirt. Curiosity got the better of Conner and so he left the house to spy on the white-haired merc.

Lincoln was finished with work and was taking a minute to himself, he spotted a nice, thin, narrow stick and he got an idea to pass the time.

A few minutes had passed and already Lincoln had sketched a frame-worthy portrait of the Kent – Danvers family with the farm in the background along with a decorated sky. Even though it was only dirt, the make-up was clear on who each person was all the while he had gotten all 6 members, from the parents, the brothers and sisters.

He made them all smiling and close, but then he stopped, he was lost in thought but his arm was still moving.

Lincoln was thinking of home, his family. Somewhere in his mind, he went back to his parents' anniversary gift to them, a family photo of the Loud siblings.

He thought on how he got one that was initially unsavory to him… at first, a clear depiction of the wild and chaotic nature of the Loud house. It was after trying to contain all that chaos and molded each sister to his liking that he understood how off putting it was to see the girls restrained and depicted as something they just aren't. He compromised and went back to the first picture, Lincoln was proud to see the girls happy as they were, even if the chaos was something he couldn't stand all the time.

Thinking back, he could hear one of Lucy's proverbs; Compromise is the essence of diplomacy and diplomacy is the cornerstone of love.

*Sigh* 'What I wouldn't give to see the real thing agai-' Lincoln's thoughts froze as he felt movement behind him.

He snapped out his thoughts to see he recreated the anniversary picture he gave to his parents, each one was there, except for him, in the middle, where he should be, screaming in frustration, he left blank.

He quickly waves his hand and the ground partly runs over the picture as Lincoln looks at the empty space where he feels someone walking to him, and judging from the size and shape, it could only be the youngest member of the Kent family.

Just before the person walks into Lincoln's sight, he calls out, "Hey Conner!" The boy came into view and stumbles back when he heard Lincoln.

Conner groans in pain and holds his sides, due to his inhuman body, he healed much quicker than a normal person would but just because his bones have mended, doesn't mean he's ready to spring into action, it's only been a few days.

"Sorry, didn't mean to spook ya. But what're you doing out, shouldn't you be getting rest?"

Conner huffed and looked away but after a few seconds, he made eye contact and said in a low voice, "Got bored and saw you out here, what're you still doing here, didn't you finish for the day?"

"Yeah but then I wanted a moment to think and do a little something to pass the time." He said and then pointed to some drawings he made, "What do you think, neat right?" Lincoln asked with a grin.

Conner looked around and saw some doodles, they were pretty good but then he saw the portrait of his family, for dirt drawings, Lincoln made good use of shading to make a good picture of his family.

It was downright beautiful, actually.

"… Meh." Was all Conner said, he didn't want to admit Lincoln had skill or made his family look happy, but then his eyes drifted to a smudged picture that looked like it was going to be even better than what Lincoln did for Conner's family.

Lincoln spoke up, "Meh! Just meh, nothing else, c'mon, give me some feedback, what's wrong with it, you can tell me, ~did I get your bad side~?" He asked, trying and failing to get a smile out of the teen.

Conner rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, "What's the deal with that one?" He said pointing to the picture Lincoln ruined.

There was chaos, quite a few girls and they were all over the place, of varying ages and seemed to be having the time of their lives, why was it destroyed.

Lincoln's smile stiffened a little, "Oh, nothing. It came out wrong, I was gonna start over but then you showed up." The two kept silent until Lincoln coughed. "So… how 'bout them Knicks," he could feel Conner staring on in annoyance. "I'm just messing, but seriously, how're you holding up?"

Conner's face relaxed, "I'm fine."

Lincoln nodded, "Good, good," He paused, "So… how taught you how to fight, cause that was just tragic." He commented as Conner scowled.

"No one, you just pick up things here and there, and you?" He asked.

"Oh, well, back before all this," He said pointing to himself, "I practiced at this dojo back home, had a bunch of teachers and got to take up a bunch of styles." Lincoln said half bragging.

Conner's eyes narrowed, "I should be so lucky," He mutters. "But, it's not like it matters now, right, with what you got, I bet all that inner peace garbage doesn't mean anything."

At that, Lincoln scowled fiercely, "You should watch what you say, hasn't Slade already beaten you and everyone else? What makes you think self-control and discipline is a waste of time, I'll have you know, I was a scrawny twig before I met my teachers, then everything got better, more than you could understand." Lincoln retorts.

"Yeah, well, you got powers now, and you do alright, and when I leave, I'll make it just fine too."

Something in Lincoln was called to attention, there was no way someone like Connie was going to survive out there.

"Listen Conner, I'm gonna say something you need to hear. You could never have survived what I've been through when I was your age.

It's the same story I've seen every now and again, the biggest fish in the pond just realized he's the smallest predator in the ocean. You are absolutely nothing special."

As he ended, Conner looked floored, enraged and even hurt, then he let it go and turned away.

"But I suppose, the reason you might feel invincible is the same thing that blinds you to what you are really capable of.

I've known people like you once and after I helped them, they turned out alright," to that Conner looked back in surprise. "Conner, you're not a small guy, with the proper training you could be an effective force of nature, but because you have this crutch, you never had the need to learn beyond flailing your hands and I MAY be inclined to show you a few things… IF you're willing." He said in a more indifferent tone but Conner looked back in utter shock.

'Is he serious, is he really offering-'

"I'm asking if you want to learn how to fight, Conner." Lincoln stated, as if reading the boy's mind.

At first Conner really didn't know how to respond so he just said, "Sure, I guess."

"But after you're all better, don't wanna break you even more than I already did!" Lincoln said as he took off and heard Conner growl in anger.

~XxX End Flashback XxX~

Lincoln heard Conner's been a little better to people around town so that's a plus.

Lincoln and Slade had met more and Lincoln's been learning more and more about Slade and what he's done.

It's odd but Lincoln's actually getting interested in knowing Slade. As it turns out, he had a wife and two sons, a pair of twins, he's iffy on the details but obviously, they're not around anymore. And whether he's aware of it or not, Slade has been slowly tugging on Lincoln's heartstrings, family, the sure-fire way to get Lincoln focused.

Slade's also been telling Lincoln recounts of his encounter with HD. Again, Slade was iffy on details but from the way he spoke, yeah, Slade was definitely there, and what he told Lincoln haunted him.

Whatever they were, they sure as hell weren't human!

In spite of recent events, Lincoln's nights have been a lot better. He's catching up on sleep, actually going to bed with Lucy at reasonable hours and having fewer… dreams that make him want to avoid sleep.

Speaking of bed with Lucy, she's been a little more insistent on bringing another person into the mix, and as frustrating as that talk was, Lincoln is perplexed on her choice in Kara or her sister.

Her argument was that it wasn't a lack of faith and fidelity, instead, Lucy trusts Lincoln 100% but their inability to consummate is apparently building up in the man. As much as he denies is to her, he knows it's true, sure he'd never cheat or force himself on anyone but he is starting to feel guilty that Lucy feels like she needs to make concessions for his sake.

He should be able to endure just fine but truth be told, he really likes sex, he's good at it, so he's been told and he'd really like to try it with Lucy, since they are together, it just feels so backwards to have someone on the side even before you've been with your girl.

But recently, they did have a nice talk about the future.

~XxX Flashback XxX~

It was the crack of dawn and Lincoln was already up. He was holding onto Lucy, just enjoying the closeness of her when she suddenly spoke out.

"Sigh, Lincoln… if you were feeling frisky, you can go further, I don't mind waking up to your touch." She purred while Lincoln looked shocked.

"W-what do you mean?" He was sure he hadn't done anything… now.

"You've been grouping me for the last hour, I awoke some time ago but you've been stuck on my rear, I'd like for you to move on." She counters.

Lincoln flustered, now that he looks over her, he sees his hand in her panties, with a hand full of her ass. Has he really been doing this for the last hour now?

He quickly pulls his hand out but it's grabbed by Lucy and shoved back to where they were.

She smirks and looks right at him, he was caught off guard but then his eyes narrow to answer the challenge.

~X~

An hour later, Lucy was a sweaty, weaving mess, trying to catch her breath and Lincoln came back from the bathroom, his hands still wet.

"Alright, it's free." He calls out.

Lincoln's fully clothed and Lucy's only in her shirt, no bottoms. He spent an hour getting her off with just his hands, back, to back, to back, no breaks in between.

Lucy only huffed heavily in response. Lincoln walks over and plants a kiss on her forehead and sits on the bed.

"L-Lincoln, *HUFF* I've been *Huff* wondering…"

"Again, Luce? Jeez, is it one of those days again, cause I think okay if we stay in all day if that's what-"

"NO! *HUFF HUFF* I just wanted to know *inhale* how you felt about staying here… in Smallville."

Lincoln takes a moment to think, "I mean, yeah, it's pretty good here, I wouldn't mind staying here for a while." He answers.

"No, I mean staying here, for good."

He looks at her, "You mean, until the walls come down?"

"No, I mean, forever, even after the walls come down." She tells him.

"I-wha-… Luce, what about our family, and everyone in Royal Woods back home?" He asks, this was kind of backwards for her, just a while back she was telling him they would get out and go home, now she's asking to stay?

"I mean, we can go to them and tell them about us, and should they… reject us, we have something to come back to. *"But Luce"* I mean, everyone here is nice, we're by the boarder, no one's trying to kill us and a few people know about us, we don't HAVE to go back to Michigan, this could be our home, if you want it to, I know I'd be anywhere you are but this place is just so… sigh, curse these foul words for passing my lips, serene, peaceful and happy… things I want… with you." Lucy sat up while barring her soul to him, she wants to stay, she might be happier here than anywhere else.

Lincoln stays silent for a long while.

"Sigh, you needn't make up your mind yet, it would be a big change and we don't need an answer now, but maybe, you'll come around to it?"

Lincoln nods. Lucy flashed a smile and decided to climb over to him, ready to return the favor from earlier.

~XxX End Flashback XxX~

So yeah, Lincoln has a lot to work with there.

While thinking of setting up life here in Smallville, Lincoln and Lucy had attended more dinners with the Kent – Danvers Family. Lincoln and Mrs. Kent try to outdo the other, and it goes back and forth.

Speaking of Mrs. Kent, Martha discovered the picture of her family that Lincoln drew in the dirt by her home. It was only in thanks to Kara with an old roll-film camera that the picture was saved when it was, the following day it was ruined by winds and the next day, a light rain had erased the majority of it.

When talking to Lincoln, he revealed that he was something of an artist and that he was just doodling.

When Martha asked what it would look like when he got serious, he went back to his place, found some of his craft supplies and painted a picture of her with her home in the background, exactly cloud formation, in less than half an hour… that was with flat colors, you should have seen his eyes bulge when he learned they had oil based paints.

With less than an afternoon's worth of effort, Lincoln had made a real family portrait for the Kent – Danvers family, one that hangs in their living room wall.

-XxX-

Lincoln has been staring at the ceiling again.

It's been a few weeks since he began working on the farm, just a few days ago, Conner was back to 100% and had been giving Lincoln a strange look. He was probably serious about learning from Lincoln.

November had arrived and with it, a new challenge, old wound reopening and maybe a pleasant change.

~XxX Flashback XxX~

"Wait, we're doing what?" Conner had demanded from Lincoln.

"I said, I'M going for a run, all you have to do is keep up-" Lincoln was cutoff.

"THAT'S IT! When you said we were gonna-" He was interrupted.

"I want to see where you're at, where I need to work from, cause from our fight, if you call it that, it seems we're starting from scratch." Lincoln stated as Conner grumbled and looked back at the silverette.

"Fine, whatever, just start running!"

~X~

Conner regrets everything. His lungs feel like they're about to collapse, he's drenched in sweat and currently gasping for air while sprawled out on the floor.

Meanwhile, Lincoln only seems to have broken a light sweat as he took another lap.

The two were behind the barricade, and ran through a demolished city with what seems to be an obstacle course, erected from solid stone, huge blocks of ice and littered all over the place, there was equipment that looks straight out of an army base and maybe a karate studio, all made from stone and ice.

Conner wasn't sure when Lincoln had the time but he knows, Lincoln did it all, right now, he didn't want to think, he was busy trying not to vomit again, so much running will do that. He barely made it through one lap, Lincoln was on his 10th, the guy has stamina, Conner, not so much.

Not to mention it was a LONG obstacle course, so many twists, turns and jumps to make, how could Conner make it through the first time?

~X~

Nearly a week had passed and Conner has only been doing a little better on the obstacle course, making it to three laps. In between other exercises that made Conner feel even more inferior to Lincoln than he already did, seriously, how can anyone expect Conner to do a thousand pushups in ten minutes, but there goes Lincoln, going above and beyond and he didn't even look winded.

"Aww, what's this? And here I thought you were one of the strong one's too." Lincoln mocked knowing full well someone so… inexperienced could never do near as many he could.

It's been a few days since Conner was shown the gap between the two in fitness.

Conner had been growing agitated, being made to look weak with crap he can't even do, hardly been shown how to fight and now he was sure the guy was just doing it to mess with him.

But that was going to change today.

Lincoln had promised to do something else with Conner.

'Finally!' He screamed in his head.

Unfortunately, it came after putting Conner through the ringer, running the obstacle course, 200 pushups in ten minutes, his limit, and watching Lincoln free-run through buildings.

Conner was tired but just conscious enough for Lincoln's official first lesson: How to breathe.

Conner stared at Lincoln, "What the FUCK!"

Lincoln held up a hand and closed his eyes and out fazed two more Lincolns. The two duplicates walked away from the original and Conner as he was sat down by Lincoln.

As the two duplicates posed and began a light spar, the real Lincoln began talking.

"Something I noticed with you, something that's been told to me again and again over the years, you need to focus on your breathing when you move," Lincoln sat next to the boy for a demonstration. "First, in through the nose, then exhale through the mouth. The body needs air; air is a necessity for moving and fighting.

Most people hold their breaths, unconsciously, mind you but still all the same, they do it. This is the wrong way to do things, before we begin you will know how to breathe properly as you watch my other selves show you the do's and don'ts for fighting and only after will we start. Agreed?"

Conner, still pouting, nods and so they begin.

~X~

"Ahh!" Conner screams as he is tossed onto the ground by Lincoln.

It's been a few days since showing Conner the proper breathing techniques and basic forms, forms are easy to learn, depending on how willing you are to learn and practice. But now, the two were fighting.

A familiar state, Conner drenched in sweat as Lincoln is bone dry, Lincoln has been running Conner ragged before sparing, so he may have a little leeway.

"Alright, breaks over, get back up, kid." Lincoln said with a sharp tone.

"Just give me a minute, man." Conner gasped.

"No." With that, Lincoln grabbed onto Conner's arm and dragged him back up for another round and the boy tried pushing him off.

"What's your deal? You have me running circles just to toss me around and for what? The fuck's the point of this, we both know you're stronger, what's with the routine, you told me, you were gonna give me some pointers not beat the crap out of me, I can hardly move and you want me to keep going."

"In real life, no one is goning to give you a minute to regain your strength, in real life, you're never going to be fresh and ready to fight, why do you think we run the course before we fight?

And here's some free advice, you haven't peeked, stop complaining about other people being stronger, I wasn't even close to as strong as you were at your age and here I am, so suck it, slacker and keep going, you're done when I say you are."

Lincoln didn't have time for his shit and the two went back at it, with the same results, Conner being tossed onto the ground, hard.

"Again." Lincoln demanded.

"… no." Conner mumbled.

Lincoln just stared at the kid, "What was that, I can't hear you over the sound of you being a whiney bitch." He mocked as Conner burned with anger, "Seriously, I can't believe I wasted my time with you, maybe I should've gone to Clark about this." *Sigh*

Lincoln turns in the direction of Smallville and doesn't see Conner stand up. He was red with rage and eyes burning with hate but then he looked down while his hands curl into fists so hard you could hear the flesh grinding like leather.

Lincoln was walking, looking down, he saw a shadow zoom by, after he felt something moving behind him and then ducked, Conner tried going for the head and missed. The boy saw Lincoln duck and disappear only to have a hard fist slam into his side, sending him flying.

Conner landed hard, while by some miracle, he hadn't felt his insides break, the familiar sensation of broken bones were not apparent but he still couldn't get up. As the teen looked up, he saw Lincoln stalk towards him.

"So, you still had energy to that, I guess not only are you a slacker but you're a liar too." He said very condescendingly, "So what's this, you get huffy and try to kill the first thing that pisses you off, what then, what comes after that, huh?"

Lincoln stood angrily over Conner who refused to look at him, after pressing a boot on his arm, hard, he roared, "LOOK AT ME!"

And so Conner did, Lincoln could see tears forming and he sighed, then got off of him.

"Alright, clean yourself up. We're done for today." He told the boy, who just sat there, thinking.

"… I-I… I'm s…" Conner just gives up.

Lincoln sighed, "Look, Conner, it was a mistake, I'm over it, we can ju-"

"What would you know about mistakes?" He quietly asked, he seemed really upset, but not at Lincoln "It's not easy being Clark's little brother.

HE never makes mistakes, has girls lined up and everyone loves him, I make one and my dad almost dies," he was quiet for a moment, "It was my fault, a girl came around the farm, she was hungry and I should've told Slade and the others then but… I don't know, she needed help and I just did what I thought Clark would have.

Turns out she was a raider scout, the next day they stormed the farm, my dad gets one put in his leg, Kara got him to a doctor in time, they said if it was a little higher, they'd have to amputate, and if she didn't get there fast enough, he'd have bleed out.

No one says it was my fault but I know that's what they all think. I go to Slade and got my ass handed to me. In the ring, it's the only place where I feel alive and when I can get any stronger, when I can prove myself, prove to everyone I'm not a screw up."

Lincoln thought on his words carefully, "Conner, everyone and I mean EVERYONE screws up. Nobody's perfect and no one's telling you be perfect but you gotta know your family loves you, they want you to be happy and safe and yeah, they're tired of the crap you put them through but they still care, that's why they get on your case, if they didn't care, well, you wouldn't hear from them now would you?"

Conner looks down in thought, soon enough, he gets up and walks off, "See ya…" he waved and then he was out.

Lincoln nodded and then looked to a building, earlier he though he saw a shadow and began running up a building.

-XxX-

A woman looks out in the distance, she thought she saw Lincoln look her way and took cover.

For the past 3 days, she's been spying on Conner. After he got better, he's been going out more, he's been avoiding everyone, so where had he been going. One day, she just saw him go over the gate and meet up with Lincoln, she thought they were going to fight it out but was instead intrigued to see them exercising and Lincoln showing Conner a few moves, then ending the encounter with a spar.

Her eyes were trained solely on Lincoln, most of the time he had been shirtless, demonstrated just how much further along in shape he is than most guys.

After seeing Conner throwing a tantrum that translated to trying to bash Lincoln's skull in, she acted and tried to go help but retreated when he not only dodged but countered the reckless youth.

Next, she expected Lincoln to straight up kill the teen but instead they sat and talked it out, she wishes she heard what they talked about.

Shortly after Conner took his leave, she saw Lincoln look her way and after 5 minutes, she's confident that he was gone, but just to be sure, she'd look over the edg-

"Hi Kara!" Lincoln surprised his onlooker.

"AHHH!" She shrieked as she fell back. Lincoln had been standing on the side of the building… at least 50 feet in the air and nothing was holding him up, he was just sticking to the side of the structure.

Lincoln walked up and sat on the edge of the roof, waiting for the younger Danvers girl to start.

"I-wha-you, how did you do that?"

"You mean walking?" Lincoln answered, playing dumb to her.

"No! The whole walking up the side of a building, what gives man?"

"Oh THAT, *"Uh Yeah, that"* it's nothing really, *"I beg to differ"* I mean if you really wanna know. Using the more subtle applications of my electrokinesis, I can manipulate my body's electron attraction to stick to any solid surface." He explained.

"Uhhh…. In English, please." She requested as Lincoln pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I use electricity from my body to stick to things with a static cling, *"OHH"* honestly, how well did you do in physics? Anyway, what are you doing here?"

Kara was panicking inside, "I was uh, y'know just in the neighborhood, what're YOU doing here?" She asked trying to flip the script, his eyes narrowed and he didn't budge, "Not buying that?" He shook his head 'no', *Sigh* "I saw Conner sneak here a few days ago and now I'm just watching you two cause I was bored out of my skull." She admitted.

Lincoln nods and turns but she calls out to him.

"Hey!" He turns back to her, "When did you find out you could do that walking on walls thing?"

He answered, "I always experiment with my powers, and interest in comic book science and inventive applications of my powers led to new ways to use what I got, and trust me they come in real handy, especially when it lets me make things like this."

With little more than a thought, Lincoln's hand shined then a mass of white light condensed and shaped itself into a featureless long sword.

Kara marveled at his creation.

"O-OH MY GOD! Can you actually make a lightsaber?" She yelled out to him.

Lincoln shrugged, "It's actually, condensed photons that I reshaped with the hel- oh forget it, it might just go over your head, I can make solid constructs out of light and give it density, shape it into almost whatever, so yeah, I guess technically, I can make lightsabers." He explained. "I can even make it do this." Lincoln said as his 'lightsaber' shifted colors, from white to green, to blue, to purple and then stopped on red.

Kara gasped, 'Electric powers, wears a lot of black and now that I see him with a red lightsaber…' she thought to herself, "Are you a sith lord?" She asked, half-jokingly.

Lincoln laughed, "Oh yes, and as you may know, the dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. Just look at what I've achieved." He ended with a small smirk.

Kara looked back to his sword and then to him and back again in rapid succession.

"Maybe you can help me with my problem." She half mumbled, mostly paying attention to something she's only had dreams about.

Lincoln rolled his eyes and dispelled his 'lightsaber' gaining her full attention. He was given the rundown, Kara's not sure what her powers are at this point, all she knows is that she can fly.

Given what he's heard, Lincoln has several theories that could lead to her flight, so he makes her a deal.

"Why don't you sit in with Conner, we can figure this out together and maybe find out something new about you."

Kara beamed with excitement, finally, she'll be able to get help and who better than a mysterious out of towner who for some reason has a plethora of abilities and might disappear eventually. It's like being in a game and this is her tutorial.

~X~

Conner showed up the next day to the sight of Lincoln as per usual but he was accompanied by the still beautiful Lucy and-

"Kara! What is she doing here?" He barked out.

Lincoln turned to him with a grin, "Well, since you've doing such a crap job of coming here DISCRETELY, Kara's been watching us for the last few days and has asked for my help, being the amazing teacher I am, I figured what's one more student?" Conner was ready to argue, "Oh, relax man, this won't interfering with what we're doing, I'm hardly gonna do anything with her today."

"WHAT!" Conner and Kara shouted.

"Nope! She is, Lucy, if you would." He beckons her.

Lucy stepped forward as she faced the young blonde, "Follow." Her one-worded command held no strong feelings but you could feel the conviction as she then levitated off the ground and flew away with Kara in tow.

Left alone, the boys got to work.

-Lucy & Kara-

The two were a few feet off the ground away from Lincoln and Conner.

Lucy had been given the story from Lincoln, Kara believes her ability to fly stems from something else but has no idea, in all honesty, it could be a lot of things, Lincoln does have theories but before he can make a plan, they need to see how it works and he asked Lucy to do a few things for Kara.

"Before we begin, would you please tell me how you fly?" Lucy asked with her usual flat tone.

The blonde was confused, "W-what?"

"I mean, when you fly, how do you feel, anything you can describe, be it physical or even emotional, it may be instinctual now but I'd like to know the mindset and motions you performed for your gift, especially when they first emerged." Lucy elaborated.

"Oh, uh… well let's see, the first time my powers came out, I was reaching for something, I forget what, but the next thing I know, I'm a whole foot off the ground.

It would be weeks before I could make it happen on purpose, there were a LOT of accidents before that, anyway, years ago, I had to imagine myself being lifted off the ground, then I get this feeling all around me, it feels like an extra layer of clothes all over but it's not touching me.

Then I just think where I want to be and then I felt something push me where I wanted to go. After a few years, it's just natural, I don't even have to think about it now."

Lucy opened her mouth but closed it then nodded, she motions for them to land by some ruble, she has a theory much like Lincoln's.

Kara's powers may be mental, if she had something, a force push her off the ground then that would eliminate flight via matter manipulation like she and Lincoln have witness with some who could command fire, wind or even electricity and use it like jet-boosters, especially since they've never seen Kara use anything like that, just lift off the ground and fly away.

Obviously, since she doesn't have wings or the like coming off her body and according to her, it doesn't feel like something is coming from her body, her powers can't be biological in origin, so that leaves mental.

Another thing that convinced Lucy was, how Kara described her flight, it was exactly how Lucy would feel and practice her levitation/flight via telekinesis.

Kara's an esper and her flight powers could be a form of telekinesis, although Kara has tried moving things with her mind, she doesn't typically make things float like her, the only things were her bed and sheets.

Now Lucy wants to run an experiment, just to test something.

"Alright, now I want you to use what you told me and take flight from here." Lucy requested.

Unknown to Kara, Lucy used her TK to keep a grip on her friend, not to hold her down but to feel how she moves, nothing invasive or to sabotage her.

Kara only shrugged and closed her eyes, focused on her old method, those old feelings starting to rise. Lucy eyed Kara's feet, there were loose pebbles and debris everywhere.

Lucy could feel some kind of force expand around Kara.

The moment Kara closed her eyes to focus the pebbles twitched and slowly shifted, as Kara began to rise from the ground, so did the debris but for a moment, right after Kara got higher and higher, the debris lagged until they just fell to the ground and stayed motionless.

Lucy saw it from start to finish, she didn't expect find the origins of Kara's flight so quickly and now Lucy needs to report it back to Lincoln.

"Hey!" Kara called out to Lucy who looked up, "What's next?" She asked.

"Nothing, you can come down, we're done for now." Lucy said earning a face contorted in confusion from Kara.

"What? You gotta be kidding me?"

"Nope." Lucy said, making her way to Lincoln as Kara followed closely.

The two saw Lincoln flip Conner over his shoulder, Conner was sweating up a storm as Lincoln looked a little bored but focused. He stops to Look at the two girls and raises a brow.

"That was quick, any trouble?" He asked while deflecting a blow from Conner.

Lucy shook her head, "No, it was as you said, her powers are mental based, perhaps even telekinetic in origin." That statement made both Kara and Conner turn to her.

Kara looks to Lincoln who hadn't paid her nor Conner any mind, "Wait, you mean you knew that already?" He shrugs, "Well, whatever, what's next, I'm so excited, do you think I'll be able to do things like Luce or make other things float oooh or maybe I-" Kara's off in her own little world as Conner scoffs.

"So glad one of us is having fun." He says folding his arms.

Kara takes a break to respond to him, "Oh don't be like that, just because I've been here ten minutes and already made progress doesn't mean you get to be downer about it." She says with a grin.

"Yeah progress, figuring out you use your mind to fly after 4 years, if you wanna call THAT progress, then good for you." He mocks Kara as her grin finally disappears.

The blonde's face scrunches and she gets in his face, "Well, I don't see how getting your ass handed to you every day can be progressive but hey, then good for you!" She says heatedly as Conner gets angry and unknown to the two of them, Lincoln could be seen getting annoyed yet lost in thought.

"YOU KNOW WHA-" Conner is cutoff.

"OH MY GOD, NICK, KIM, KNOCK IT OFF!" Lincoln roars out.

That got the two to stop but then everyone looks to Lincoln as he realizes what came out of his mouth.

Lincoln looked back and forth between Kara and Conner then spoke, "Let's cut this short for today, I gotta go… somewhere." And with that, he took off.

Kara and Conner shared a look before turning to Lucy who looked worried or as worried as you could look while maintaining a stone faced expression.

Lucy turned to the two, "It's been a while since I heard him say anything about them."

Kara looked nervous but asked anyway, "What was that about, Luce?"

"I… think the two of you reminded him of some of our former… acquaintances but still, I've never heard him say their names since…" She leaves off in a lull and soon Kara picks up.

"Does this have to do with when Lincoln was… different?" She asked as Conner perked in her direction.

Lucy nodded, "I suppose there is no harm in telling you about them." Lucy began.

-Lincoln-

Lincoln was resting back in his room, he closed his eyes-

An image of him biting into the neck of a scared boy pops into his head.

*Sigh* "Haven't thought about them in years, why'd that come out, Lincoln, you idiot, just let it go." He told himself, 'It was HIS fault, you didn't do anything wrong!' The angrier part of himself shouted, 'But you could have done thing different too.' The calmer part of his brain reasoned.

Lincoln frowns and brought his hands together, when his fingers parted there was a glittering, thin wire or sting coming from the tips, they were sharp and strong, able to cut through flesh and bone.

Lincoln has a wide assortment of powers but he'll tell you only about 1/4 are really his own, are all natural, the rest are stolen from someone else and most came while in his edge-lord phase, he really made a mess of himself back then.

Lincoln curls up, "Just sleep on it." He told himself, even though he was wide awake, sleep came to him… eventually.

~XxX Dream XxX~

The door to a rundown shack was thrown open, in came a 16 year old Lincoln, complete with eyes filled with anger, a feminine face, long white hair and dressed in dark clothing, all while coated in blood. Next came a 13 year old Lucy, she wore a sweater and jeans, longish hair and wore a scowl on her face, she was angry.

"I don't see why you had to kill him, he already gave up!" She yelled at him, in those days, that was a rare thing.

Lincoln stayed quiet, he didn't even dignify her with a response.

"I don't see what the big deal is, that guy was trying to force us into some crazy sex cult and had us at gun point, I say it was fair game." Came the voice of a boy, no older than Lincoln. He was short, light skinned, had brown hair and dressed in a green shirt and jeans.

"Tommy, I don't think it was that simple, I mean we had it under control, and he wasn't much of a threat." A softer voice replied, it was a girl, a little older than Lucy but not by much, she wore a pink dress and shorts, she had long blonde hair and was bandaged up.

"Kim's right, what Linc did was just- it was… that was dark, and we just left them like it wasn't our problem." Sounded the voice of a younger boy, about Lucy's age, he was tall for his age and had tanned skin, short black hair and wore a blue shirt and jeans.

"Look, Nick, I understand if you didn't want to get your hands dirty but those people were dangerous and with that guy, who knows who'd they run into next, we have powers, we could get out of it, what about the next group of people who found them?" Tommy leveled the question at Nick, who turned away.

"But still…" He didn't finish.

One doesn't survive the dead-zone alone, Lincoln and Lucy ran with a group. Each had powers, Tommy was a speedster, Kim could bend light around her and appear invisible and lastly, Nick could sprout razor thin wires from his body.

~X~

Night came to pass, but while Lincoln and Lucy were in bed, their three friends were up at Nick's favor.

In a separate part of the shack, Nick was speaking to Tommy and Kim about something personal, "Look, I can't stay here, Linc's getting worse every day, killing more people, at first they were accidents, then it was in self-defense, now… I don't know, you've seen the look in his eyes, he's nuts." He conveyed onto them quietly.

Tommy was pissed, "You're talking about running out on them. Did you forget who took us off the street, who's been taking care of us, who taught us to use our powers? I'm starting to think you're nuts, Nick."

Then Kim added on, "Yeah, I mean sure Lincoln's been on edge but do you really hate him that much? Whenever we had a problem, we talked to him and he eased up, why can't you?" As much as Kim didn't approve of Lincoln latest kill, she would never turn on him after what he's done for them all.

Nick gained a pained expression that turned to annoyance and anger, "I get why Tommy defends him but you, I know you're trying to get in his pants but can't you see, he's deranged, rabid and we're next if we're not careful, Lucy won't leave his side but whatever, she's a lost cause, we owe him a lot, I'll admit but I'm not gonna be next on his chopping block for looking at him funny. Another thing, you've seen him bite into guys' necks like some kind of vampire?"

Tommy shrugs, "So?"

"So? Dude, you know he didn't have fire powers before right?" He asked as both Tommy and Kim nodded, "Then one day he woke up and suddenly, he was hurlin' fire balls like a mage," Tommy rolled his eyes, "So, I'm thinking, he can get more powers by eating people, what if we're next cause he like what we can do, we're not safe, tell me you understand that?" Nick pleaded with the two.

Tommy was as loyal as could be, he was orphaned, as one often was in this cruel world, when he was found by Lincoln, he taught him to hone his gifts and do more than run away and though it never came up, he's been looking at Kim a little more differently, with more fondness.

Kim was a dainty thing, never wanting to be in the spotlight, now so more than ever but ever since she'd been with Lincoln, Lucy and Tommy, she's been more adventurous and prone to taking action.

Nick, the newest addiction to the group had always been fearful, somewhat flaky but he'd stick with his friends, Tommy and Kim have been more open and accepting than Lincoln and Lucy was a recluse by nature, lately, he's been thinking about cutting out Lincoln and Lucy and just sticking with his friends. He'll be the first to admit he's afraid of Lincoln and don't even get him started on Lucy but now he's not sure what they'd do to him if they knew what he was planning.

Nick and Kim are usually at odds with each other over the pettiest things but even she will admit Lincoln's been off, even when they first met Lincoln and Lucy, the effeminate white-haired mutant had taken pity on them but saw fit to leave them, the dark-haired girl had pleaded with him to take them along and he was reluctant to do so.

With the way the world was or just everything trapped in the dead-zone, you didn't live long if you weren't in a group, you needed people to watch your back and if you didn't take care of each other, you were as good as dead.

Tommy and Kim share a look then the speedster spoke, "Look, I get it, you don't feel safe and you probably feel better on your own but dude, maybe just talk to the man, I know he's not dad of the year or anything but I know him, he'll listen. Worst case scenario; he'll let you leave, he's not gonna kill you, he cares about us." Tommy reasoned but Nick's face went sour.

"No, he only cares about Lucy, we're here TOGETHER because we're useful and if don't leave now, he'll kill us for thinking about it-" Nick's interrupted by Kim.

"No, that's you being a coward, like always, Lincoln is a lot of things but he's not a monster, but if you don't want to be here then go, just don't drag us down with you." She said that as she turned and walked away, Nick tried to reach out for her but after Tommy turned his back, he gave up.

Unbeknownst to any of them that night, Lincoln was listening to them, keeping far enough to stay out of sight but with his heightened sense of hearing, the distance wasn't even a hindrance.

Lincoln sighed, 'Is that how he sees me, a monster?' He thought to himself and resolved that he should talk to Nick, the kid's been with them maybe 4 months and Tommy, a little more than 8. Bless Tommy for having faith in Lincoln but if Nick is going to start some insurgence then Lincoln had to do something.

~X~

The next night, Lincoln was determined to speak with Nick but first he had to check on Luc-

In the part of the shack that he and Lucy live in, there was Nick, a large packed duffle bag over his shoulder, Lincoln's bag, and a pistol in his hand, one of Lincoln's guns.

Nick had been taking their stuff and was armed, when said boy had been caught by the man he feared, he froze, like a deer to the headlights of a speeding car.

Lincoln wasn't an empath but by the look in the boy's eyes, he could tell what was going on, he was caught, he was planning to take their stuff and leave them with nothing.

Lincoln's eyes narrowed and glowed ominously then Nick's widen with panic as they glanced all over the room and spotted a sleeping Lucy then in desperation, he pointed the gun at the empath's head.

Nick saw Lincoln take one step forward and shouted "Stop! I-I d-don't want to but I will k-kill her i-if you d-don't turn around and leave." He repeatedly stuttered his threat to Lincoln.

BIG MISTAKE, knowing Lincoln at this time, threatening Lucy was an automatic death sentence.

Lincoln waited for just the right moment, for Nick to blink then bam. Lincoln flashed to Nick's side and gripped his wrist in a vice while pointing it skyward before the gun went off.

*BANG*

The loud echo of the gunshot rang through the shack, Nick dropped the gun and was struggling to break Lincoln's grip to no luck. He panicked and looked Lincoln in the eyes, his unsettling, dull yet fierce eyes that showed him the end.

Lincoln bared his teeth as his canine's seemed to grow sharper and somehow bigger.

Lincoln opened his maw and just as someone shouted, "LINCOLN NO!"

*CHOMP*

The murderous white-haired mutant tore into the frightened boy's neck and tore out his throat. Blood sprayed over the enraged Lincoln's face, as the color faded from Nick's face, Lincoln heard shuffling behind him and turned to the shocked faces of Lucy, Tommy and a green faced Kim.

Lincoln looked back at Nick's lifeless corpse, and dropped him in shock, looking back at the group, he took a step forward as Tommy and Kim stepped back.

"Lincoln, why?" Was all Lucy could ask.

"Luce, you don't understand, he tried to leave and… I don't- I-I did this for you- he was a threat!" As he answered sporadically, Tommy and Kim flinched back and looked at one another.

~XxX End of Dream XxX~

Lincoln was lying awake on his bed, it was night already, 'Damn, I really slept through the day?' He asked in his mind. He thought back to his old crew, he wishes he had the chance to do it all over, he really does, Nick didn't deserve to die but even back then, Lucy was his priority, anything that threatened her needed to be taken down and a lot of people paid the price for his ruthless, borderline psychotic tendencies.

It wasn't long after that, that Tommy and Kim ran away, the last look they gave Lincoln told him everything he needed to know, he could no longer be trusted, they weren't going to be next.

This was right before the time when a certain nameless boy would meet Lucy and start filling her head with his pretty words.

Eventually after his return from grave, Lincoln gave the full story to Lucy and of course this would only pile on the guilt she's amassed from the ordeal.

Lincoln shifted a little and things felt off. The sheets were over him and something was wrapped around his waist and now that he was paying attention, there were two warm, soft and squishy lumps pressing against his back and something hard on each of those lumps poked him. Without needing to think any further, Lincoln closed his eyes and felt Lucy, her distinctive body shape and another observation revealed she was in the buff, her warm body wrapped around him.

He thought on it and figured he could use a little more sleep, if only to enjoy this feeling a little longer.

-XxX-

The next morning, Lincoln and Lucy talked, she didn't ask what he was thinking, for now she'd give him space, after everything he's been through, being reminded of his past mistakes was something Lucy wanted to avoid for a while.

Armed with comic book knowledge, Lincoln understood that Kara may have a telepathic field around her that she uses to fly via levitation like Lucy but to a more fluid extent. This power, short range telekinesis or tactile-telekinesis could probably be trained and Lucy would have to help expand her field and range.

Lincoln would work on Conner, the extent of his powers was limited to the body so after getting him on a workout regimen and teaching him to fight properly, Conner would see just how strong he could be, currently, he was only scratching the surface of his abilities, hopefully that would change.

-XxX-

"Ah!" Conner shouted as he was punched in the face by Lincoln and sent to the ground again, this time getting up and charging at him… again.

"What did I tell you, when going up against a bigger and stronger opponent, you can't run at him head on, keep him off-side with guerrilla tactics, hit and run.

Me personally, I like to go for the pressure points and joint locks, easy for me to get close and break something important." He told the young Kent boy who then began changing tactics.

Conner was circling Lincoln who was just stationary, not even turning, was he underestimating Conner, no, not by a long shot, but he doesn't know that and so he comes at Lincoln from the side, hoping to rush him, only to be rewarded with an over the shoulder flip.

Conner quickly got up only for sand to be tossed into his face, he turns and starts rubbing the dirt from his eyes only to have the back of Lincoln's fist meet his nose and send him on his back, groaning in pain and humiliation.

"That's not fair!" He screamed while still getting the sand from his face.

Lincoln chuckled, "You need to change how you look at things, the only unfair fight is the fight you lose, rules of conduct are for sparing and tournament matches, everywhere else, especially on the battlefield, it's expected for you to play dirty, in the end, it's all about who wants it more."

Conner finally cleaned his face and fixed Lincoln with a glare but nodded, Lincoln gestured for Conner to get back up and so he did then the two got back to it.

Conner has been more enthusiastic with Lincoln and more reasonable in following directions. Lincoln has agreed to get Conner into weight training; lifting and building muscle. Conner's been getting better and better, maybe he'll start seeing the difference in his ability between now and before they met.

Lincoln has been teaching Conner about grappling techniques in fighting and how to lock someone in a hold, the teen's making progress under Lincoln's tutelage.

-Lucy & Kara-

Lucy was holding onto Salem as she instructed Kara on her next objective; using her telekinetic field and lifting the surrounding ruble without flying herself.

Kara was sweating bullets, concentrating on her goal, it was hard, re-using her old mindset for flight but to make other things fly around, she could feel things around her rumble and that boosted her mood but no real progress has been made.

"Like I told you, Kara; breathe in, visualize your goal, breathe out and exert your will." Lucy instructed.

Kara snorted, "Don't you think I'm trying? It's hard, like using a muscle you never knew you had." She spat out while trying to keep focus.

"Yes but this shouldn't be too difficult, after all, you lift yourself all the time, some debris couldn't possibly weight anything close to… what, 120 pounds." She said that with a smirk as Kara looked aghast and gasped.

"I will have you know I am 96 pounds and I get that lifting rocks should be easy but I've never done this before," She said with anger as she walked to Lucy. "I mean it's not like you could do this on your fist day, right?"

Lucy looked down with a small smile then went flat-face, she saw where Kara was walking and the bits of rock she passed started moving out of place and some even began to rise. She held a hand out, stopping the younger Danvers girl.

"Firstly, yes, the moment I discovered my ability to interact with objects from a distance, Lincoln had me practice in much more… strenuous circumstances. He threw rocks at me, I was supposed to catch, deflect or pulverize them, in less than 10 minutes I had achieved that goal, before I felt my head splitting from the migraines, but then again we all go at our own pace, I mean just look at you." She said while pointing behind the blonde.

Kara turned and saw pebbles floating around her, it wasn't impressive compared to what she had seen before but this was something new for her so it was indeed a victory, she could only let out a screech.

"AHHHHHH! Yes, yes, yesyesyesyesyes!" Kara shout while floating in the air sprawling her limbs in elation.

Lucy could only cringe at her girly screams, with a pulse she got Kara to calm down, "Alright, now that that's over, you were right about one thing. Your powers are like a muscle, the more you use and experiment, the greater and more versatile they become.

Lincoln believes every power can be trained and evolved, he says he's a walking example in a way." Lucy told Kara who tilted her head.

"That's something else I wanted to ask. What can Lincoln do exactly, because it's starting to look like he can do anything, which is cool but kinda scary too?"

Lucy paused a moment, "I will not tell you the things he can do specifically, bad things tend to happen when the wrong people know about his weird talent. I can also tell you, you and your family haven't even seen a tenth of what he's capable of," Kara's eyes widen with that revelation. "For the sake of keeping a low profile, he likes to tone it down."

"W-what can he do?" She asked but was debating if she wanted to hear the answer.

"Through his own means, Lincoln is able to… gain new powers from others, this is to say he cannot do everything they can or even mimic the level of power and control they demonstrate… right away but that is why he train and practices. Example, he's attained three variations of electrokinesis, he says almost any power can be created by all three types of mutants, biologically, mentally or through a form of manipulation.

Lincoln has all three but he can do more than simply shoot people with lightning, with training and imagination, Lincoln has found multiple applications for them, from messing with electronics, electro-magnetism and for the more subtle use of-" she's interrupted.

"He can stick to walls like some kind of ninja! I saw it the other day." Kara blurted out.

Lucy nodded, "Yes, oh and I do believe you'll appreciate this one; he can charge batteries and electronics."

Kara's eyes looked like they would burst out of her head before she took a breath and-

-Lincoln & Conner-

Lincoln felt a chill crawling up his spine and shivered as he held another one of himself in a sleeper hold, for Conner to learn when suddenly, Lincoln felt a shiver down his spine.

'I don't know why but I feel like something annoying is about to come along.' He looked to Conner who looked entranced by his teachers headlock, 'Nah, he's fine right no-'

"LINCOLN!" A roar broke him out of his trace as he released his other and looked above to see Kara flying right at him and Lucy not too far behind.

"Kara." He called out, blandly.

When Kara landed, she stomped up to Lincoln with fury in her eyes, "You've been holding out on me!" She growled.

Lincoln raised a brow and looked to Lucy who landed just moments later and watched her mouth 'I'm sorry'. He shrugged and turned to Kara.

"And how pray tell was I holding out on you?" He asked, incredulously.

"You're gonna find out, you're coming with me." She commanded as she marched away from the rest.

Lincoln looked at his clone and they both shrugged only for the original to take off, "And where are we going, Kara?" He asked as he walked with her.

"Uh to this new place called MY ROOM!" She announced as Lincoln laughed.

"Well, well, well. Aren't we eager, I'll be honest I didn't think you'd be this forward, I mean, Conner's right there, a little warning would be nice." He joked only for her to turn red.

"S-shut up, you are gonna give my batteries a charge-"

"That's what she said!" Clone Lincoln shouted, and Kara turned back with anger on her features.

-XxX-

And so Lincoln and Lucy spent the next week relatively peaceful and boring, boring on their end, they were sure Kara and Conner appreciated the training.

Though minor, Kara has been very excited using her powers in new ways, to what she's capable of, only she and Lucy really know, Lincoln's been spending time with Conner and he's got to say, Conner's not so bad, things can get so boring being stuck in one town for years on end.

It was the beginning of November and Lincoln was kind of done with this place, not that he wouldn't enjoy staying for some time but after all the traveling he's had to do, staying put never felt safe for him and Lucy, it's probably something he'll have to get used to when he and Lucy are free.

A few days after Kara joined him and Conner, Lincoln's been told his help on the farm was no longer needed but much appreciated and honestly, he was glad for it, he didn't mind the hard work but it was mostly Karen.

Even when not working, Lincoln was invited by Kara to play her portable consoles, him being a literal battery for her. Unfortunately, sometimes he would have to cut his visits short when her sister came by to bug them, especially Lincoln.

If not the immodest clothing, sexual innuendos and gestures, it was the pass she made at Lincoln on his last day working at the farm.

It was in the barn, he was putting the last of the tools away when she came out of nowhere and started to suck face with him, with everything happening, he just sort of went with it and showed her just how aggressive he could be until he snapped out of it and realized he had her half naked and inviting him to finish. He's not sure how he made himself leave when every part of him begged him to stay, arguing to himself that even Lucy would approve but he left her hanging, Karen was mad and the next time she saw Lincoln at the bar she told him she'd step up her game.

Lincoln had taken on a few more jobs with Slade and talked more, their talks were nice and Lincoln felt a sort of kinship and an odd sense of familiarity with him.

But that brings us to now.

~XxX End Flashback XxX~

Lincoln was lying on his bed in nothing but pants on, looking at the ceiling, just thinking. He can't shake the feeling that something big is coming and what's worrying is that something in him wants it to come sooner.

He recently got a neat trim, his hair had been getting a little too long and unkempt was more of an on the road style not a nice, civilized town kind, he had thoughts of growing it out more but no, not now.

Lucy had emerged from the bathroom in another dress made for her. It looked regal, very beautiful, form fitting and if it wasn't Lucy, you wouldn't see this as casual wear but it was very much so for the duchess of darkness, the mistress of the night that is Lucy.

As per her usual style, it was black, but with dark purple accents, it was smooth and silky.

It started at her neck and went all the way down to her feet.

On the arms, they were detached at her shoulder, exposing her pale, milky-white skin and fit snugly all the way at the wrist.

On her chest there was an oval-window that showed off the cleavage to her vast, bountiful chest.

Lastly, on her back was a sewn-on formal cape that reached her knees and the inside was an ominous but soft purple.

Her hair flows freely while an eye peeks out with all of its eerie supernatural gleam.

Lucy truly looks like she should be walking the halls of a dark castle with a glass of red (hopefully) wine in hand and gazes devilishly playful yet longingly at the white knight who had come for her, to do battle or…

Back to Lincoln, he was being drawn to her and how could he not. That figure, curvy top and bottom, slim waist, that dress was working for her in every way, the contrast to her skin and the eye-catch being her literal eye, so out of place but not ugly, it didn't clash it was the only thing different from her color-scheme.

Lincoln needed a touch, a taste.

Lucy smirked, she felt what he wanted and she was willing enough to let him have at it… to an extent.

Lincoln grew a smile and flashed over to her side. He approached from behind and held her close then he inhaled deeply while her body was pressed on his, Lincoln could smell a new scent all over Lucy.

Recently, Lincoln learned how to make organic soap from scratch and make rose-water. It can go in a lot of things and be used for all sorts of things related to health and body-care products.

Lucy's hair smelled like flowers and peppermint but the smell of her exposed skin drew in Lincoln, 'Is that cinnamon, vanilla and… what is that, wine?' He hadn't noticed his hands roaming over her body but he did notice that she wasn't wearing anything underneath, 'No underwear? Were you hoping for a little something, Luce?'

One hand stopped on her flat stomach, gently grazing it while his other hand cupped a boob, making Lucy tilt her head back and her breathing hitched. Lincoln, while caressing his lover's body was leaning closer and closer to her neck, planting a kiss then sucked on it, he could hear and feel her pulse spike and lastly, for some reason he nipped at her neck.

"AHHH!" Lucy moaned loudly then slapped a hand over her mouth.

Lincoln had paused to get a look at her face but could only see her face getting redder by the second, "Was that embarrassment or a turn on? Y'know if you're still into the whole vampire role play, ~I'd be delighted to take a drink from you, my lovely black rose~" He deepened his voice and felt Lucy shiver as her skin turned bright pink, "I'll take that as a yes, my dear." He whispered to her ear and went back to nibbling on her neck.

The hand on Lucy's stomach went south and rubbed her inner thighs while they shifted. Lucy brought her hands over her head then wrapped around the back of Lincoln's and forced his lips to press harder on her skin, wanting more.

Lincoln lifted his head to whisper, "So you like biting, huh? That's good to know."

Lucy muttered something, "J-just on my neck." Lincoln nodded.

"Tell me, are you going somewhere or did you get dressed like this for me, cause it gotta say, it's working for me." Lucy turned and audibly sighed but Lincoln saw the corner of her mouth curve up and her cheeks deepen in color.

"I thought it would make you feel better," Lincoln tilted his head like he was asking a question. "It's just, you've been down and I can't help but want to make you happy, I thought this would alleviate your mood and judging by what's poking my back, I think I've succeeded."

Lincoln smirked.

The two would spend the next hour exchanging kisses and holding onto one another.

-XxX-
-?-

Roaming over the skies was a military grade helicopter, dark-grey, almost black in color and traveling within the walls.

Inside of a helicopter were three people, one pilot and two people sitting on one side of the passenger's side were a man and a woman.

"I swear, this Slade guy better be there!" The woman groaned before the man spoke up.

"Don't worry, before the radio crapped out, it gave us the place, we're right over Smallville now, if he's… y'know then we go back or move on, if he's got our intel then good… I guess if not then we can go back home." He said while rubbing the woman's hand.

"I guess you're right, I just- I don't wanna be here." She said darkly with clear anger.

"Hey, hey," He tried calming her down, "You know Lisa could only turn to us and she decked us out with her best gear, those mercs at Umbrella don't even have this stuff-"

"DO NOT talk to me about them!"

"S-sorry babe." The man said softly as the two sit in silence but then-

*BURST*

Something happened with the blades and engine while the alarms went off, there were flashes, beeps and turbulence. Bless the pilot for being able to steer the chopper and make a controlled landing (crash) in an empty part of the town below.

"Hold on you two!" The pilot yelled out to his passengers.

-Lincoln & Lucy-

Currently, they're lying on the bed just talking when suddenly-

*Papapapapapapa*

There was this annoyingly familiar sound, the two got up to take a look outside.

People were out and about, seeing a black helicopter. It was smoking and wobbling as it got closer to the ground.

'Is it falling out of the sky, did they get too close to the cloud?' were Lincoln's thoughts.

The two saw the helicopter land in an open space in the middle of town, Lincoln and Lucy shrugged to each other and went back inside.

It was a safe-ish landing and had nothing to do with them, the less people who knew what they were the better.

Back inside, Lucy asked Lincoln, "So back to your dream last night…"

"Right, so remember when we were back home, you were like, 10 and I was 13?" Lucy nodded, "you remember when Lori and Bobby visited for the holidays and I was sick, like, really sick?"

Lucy nodded again, "How could I forget, we went to the mall and you had to stay behind. Lori volunteered to stay behind and when we came back, she tore through the wrappings to our presents like how she always does, sigh, I know not how nor why she feels the need to do that or what joy it brings her." She ended as Lincoln picked back up.

"Yeah, anyway-

-XxX-

Lincoln and Lucy spent the day catching up with the townsfolk.

As per usual, Lucy had her hair cover her eyes and Lincoln walked down the street with shades on.

"Hey, Lincoln, good to see ya, you heard about that copter, man?" A random man called out to Lincoln.

"Yeah, I heard, Jeff." Lincoln replies. 'Damn, when did all of this become so… normal?' He thought to himself.

Really, just talking to people on the street like you know they won't stab you for engaging in polite conversation, not a lot of places like that anymore and something in Lincoln tells him his little vacation may end soon, for some reason, he just can't shake it.

Lincoln and Lucy greet more passerby's. Some girls call out to Lincoln and plenty of guys ogling Lucy as they both go on and hear the word on the street.

Rumors of people from the outside being detained by Slade, it didn't matter to Lincoln or Lucy but they did take an interest in Conner hanging around a few other people his age and one girl Lucy recognized.

The two went to the Library, for Lincoln, but while there, he asked Lucy, "Do you ever think about getting back into poetry, I kinda miss hearing yours."

Lucy tilted her head in thought, "I suppose, since our confinement in this cage, I've felt less of an urge to express my thoughts and desires on paper, sigh, but I do miss writing, I can never find myself in a comfortable setting to explore my thoughts.

I miss the inky, unlit vents of our home, they were my domain, my labyrinth of a temple-"

"Yeah, too bad with a body like yours, you'd never fit in them again." Lincoln remarked but felt a cold spot and looked back at a stone-faced Lucy who he knew was making her angry face, "Not for the bad reason, it's just with you… growing into a… more mature and fleshed out woman, such a place… couldn't contain you… hehe." He laughed nervously as Lucy gave a nod and continued.

"Though I will have to find a new place to retreat into my thoughts, or perhaps I can find a new means of self-expression." Lincoln raised a finger.

"Well y'know, I could use a partner for one of my projects-"

"I'm being serious, posing nude as your life model will only help you not me, how many times must I say it." She said in mock anger.

"I w-what, but you're the one who brought up the idea-" Lincoln is shushed by lucy.

"But if you truly are desperate to capture my dark essence in all of its glory than I shall appease you, become your, shall we call it, muse." She ended with a slight smirk as Lincoln deadpanned, he knew what her game was.

Lincoln shook his head, *sigh* "Lucy… will you be my muse, I beg of you, let me capture your lustrous visage and preserve it on canvas for all of eternity." He said with clear sarcasm.

"Hmm, you may." Lucy gave permission and they both laughed.

~X~

The two had visited the Kent – Danvers family and left soon enough, Kara seemed content with her charged games and batteries, courtesy of Lincoln and hardly paid them any mind.

Clark and Conner were busy helping a family friend on a different farm.

Karen had been fairly decent until she left and came back in short-shorts and a crop-top more befitting on a child than her, then Lincoln practically dragged Lucy out. Karen was getting more and more bold with each visit and Lincoln was not in the mood.

Lincoln and Lucy were making their way back while the sun was beginning to set a beautiful shade of orange, this was nice.

All that was left was to make dinner and call it a night, Lincoln was thinking crispy pork-belly and veggies but when they got to their room, there was Beth.

"Fuckin' finally, you know long I've been waitin'? Boss wants you both in his office yesterday." She said, sounding tensed.

"For what?" Lincoln asked rather rudely, "We were about to get-"

"Yeah, yeah, you two can get freaky later, Slade wants you NOW." She could not stress it enough, she was probably waiting for hours, not knowing when he two would be back.

The lovers looked to each other and nodded, as per usual, whatever was shared on the empathic wave was their business.

The two followed Beth to Slade's building where he made himself known to the two.

"Ah, Mr. Park, Ms. Graves, pleasure to see you as always." Slade greeted the two but by the looks on their faces, he figured he should get down to business, "Ahem, as you may or may not have seen, a military grade Utility-helicopter landed hours ago, consisting of a pilot and two personnel.

Apparently, they have clearance, and they're here to meet me when there was a malfunction. Particles from the cloud had made contact with them, fortunately; no one was harmed, unfortunately; they still have a job to do and their business is taking them deep into the dead-zone.

The pilot's being sent back while the other two have to make their way to other outposts and they could use a really good escort with lots of experience traveling the-"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Lincoln cut in, "What makes you think I'm taking anyone anywhere?" Lincoln demanded, he hadn't signed up for escort missions or going back into the dead-zone, not when he's still got business here.

"Well, I think the moment you meet them, you'll know why I'm sending you. I know you're here to get word out to your family but I think these are the people who can help, they know Lisa, she was the one who sent them." Slade whispered that part to the lovers as their eyes widened.

Lincoln and Lucy shared a look and they nodded.

"We'll meet them." Lincoln said, "But just meet, we haven't agreed to anything, yet," He told Slade, who smirked and nodded.

"Very well, you remember my office?" He asked as the two nodded, "Good, building's empty, it'll just be the four of you." Slade stated before leaving.

~X~

Lincoln and Lucy made their way to Slade's office, remembering their first day in Smallville.

Suddenly, Lincoln perks up, though only Lucy could hear muffles, Lincoln was hearing a conversation. A man and a woman, they were going back and forth.

"Just great, not only did our ride crap out on us but lady luck just gave us the shaft, Slade knows what we're looking for but we have to trek even further to this God-forsaken shit-hole, why can't we just nuke this place already-"

"Babe! Look I know you're upset, I know this is the last place you'd wanna be but you shouldn't talk like that, we're here now."

The woman sure sounded like she hated this place, probably all the rumors and stories the escapees told, honestly, a few years back, Lincoln would agree to nuke it from orbit, hell, he'd press the button himself if he could. At least this guy is trying to keep it together, no sane person would want to be in this kind of place, even if you're by the border.

As the two get closer, they could each hear the voices from behind the open door, they're getting closer.

The woman picks up, *sigh* "I know but if it wasn't for Lisa, we literally wouldn't be here now."

That made Lincoln and Lucy pause, that one word, that poor and inappropriate usage of the word literally, it couldn't be- now that he thinks about it, the man called her babe, they're together but lots of couples say that.

As Lincoln paused right at the door, he felt Lucy's hand grip his and she was trembling, it couldn't, could it?

The two quickly pushed the door open and they were greeted to the image of a pair of adults tensing up, like they expected a fight.

Lincoln and Lucy were mesmerized, the two were in full bodysuits, black bases with grey trims and lightly armored, grey padding on the knees and black boots that went to their calves.

The man wore fingerless black gloves while the woman wore full covering black gloves

Though their bodies were mostly covered, their faces were exposed to show the two mutants who they were.

The man was tall, if Lincoln could guess, maybe 6'2". He has broad shoulders and was tanned, of clear Latin descend. His eyes are a dark-brown and the hair on his head was dark, cut short but slicked back, he had a Van Dyke styled beard; neatly trimmed lip hair and a soul-patch that merged with his chin goatee.

The woman was shorter, maybe 5'9", just as SHE should be. Though she has a smaller frame, Lincoln could see she was fit, and while the bodysuit does a decent job of hiding it, the curves of her body are still noticeable. Her skin is a light-creamy complexion which really highlights her golden-blonde locks, it's big, not long, full body is closest word that comes to mind, it reaches the base of her neck and her bangs stop above her sapphire-blue eyes.

The two armored adults relax as they see the very pale girl and very tall and man in front of them and if they were being honest, these two looked pretty hot.

The girl was a little creepy but everything about her screamed dark, mysterious and alluring. Then we move onto her body, the girl was stacked, well-proportioned and her clothes were doing an amazing job bringing out those curves.

The guy was no slouch, defining features, quite the looker and even with clothes on, he was obviously muscular not to mention his hair and skin tone, not exactly common where they come from and that makes it all the more appealing, he looks like some kind of fantasy game character.

The man notices his partner staring at the tall man with her mouth gaping, he sees her cheeks redden and spots a little drool hanging off the end of her lip, "Seriously, right in front of me?"

The woman snaps out of it and quickly sees that the two of them are staring at her, she tries to introduce herself, *cough* "Hello, Slade told us that we needed to meet with the two of you, we are-"

She was cut-off by the man, "L-Lori… Bobby?" Lincoln stuttered out.

The now named Lori, raised a brow, "Yes, that's us. Lori Loud and Roberto Santiago, Slade's probably mentioned us to you." She reasoned with herself but Bobby gained a confused expression and squint his eyes as he got a closer look at the two, specifically Lucy.

"Uh… Babe-"

"Lori." Lucy spoke up, "It's US." The moment she said that, Bobby gapped.

"Little Lo-… bro?" Bobby quietly gasped much to Lori's ignorance.

"Bobby what are you talking abou-"

"Babe, take a look at them!" He yelled out as he got closer to them, he was getting frantic and Lori was feeling worried right about now.

Lori took a second to step back and think. Pale skinned girl, hair as black as the night and also hides her eyes from view, dressed in dark colors. That definitely raised number of flags.

The man in front of her however, not much about him she could recognize until she looked him from the bottom up and spotted the hair… wait.

Her eyes widened and bulged like they were ready to burst from her head, "Tha-that's not po- I, L-Lincoln?" It came out as a whisper, it almost hurt to say the names out loud and then she looked over to the girl, "Lucy?"

The two looked to Lori and smiled, a genuine smile then Lincoln spoke.

"Hey sis, hey Bobby, long time no see. So what'd we miss?"

End of Prologue

---

AN: Good lord, almost 30,000 words, no wonder I've been a no-show, even missed my original planned date for the first of the month, make it a 1-year special post.

To be honest, I was kind of bored when I got to this point, freaking finally. I may go back and really edit the crap out of the earlier chapters, going back and re-reading them makes me cringed way more than when I uploaded them and went back to edit, but from what I've been told, that is a sign of progression, I'm getting better at writing or so I think.

I had so much to cut out, I can't even tell you. In case anyone was wondering, Michael, Michael Holt/ Mr. Terrific was the only person that I can recall that's ever dated Powergirl and not just a kiss or sharing obvious romantic feelings with. He may or may not come back, depends on a few things.

For the most part, Clark won't be a main focus in the story, he'll take a back seat but I'm not afraid to say he's one of the more powerful mutants in my universe. I wanted to keep Conner's personality roughly alike in the early seasons of the young justice series, reckless, stubborn and heavily relies on his powers, has an inferiority complex stemming from not being Clark.

I know Kara isn't the one who has tactile telekinesis but I want to keep Conner mostly like his YJ counterpart, besides, I'm not making a kryptonian, that would break everything, so I want to give her the next best thing, in my opinion.

Karen will have the Miss/Captain Marvel power set of absorbing energy and using a sort of photon energy for lots of things, she doesn't run on sunlight, that's just all she's ever absorbed. I also wanted to keep Carol Danver's flaws, I wasn't going to make powergirl, like I said, no kryptonians, but I can say, they will all become much more powerful throughout the series, I'm just taking it slow.

This whole [Prologue arc] was me setting up stuff, it took way longer than I meant it to, seriously a whole year, Christ! In the end I kind of got a hot mess, half used/explained plots that will come back way later but for now I'll be focusing on the other members of the Loud House.

Just briefly, Lori and Bobby are wearing stealth suit MKII from fallout, or as close to it as I'll make it with a lot more uses.

Small spoiler for the net chapter, it'll take place a few months before we get to this point, it'll be lore heavy and not super long, after that I'll take a hiatus and post other stuff before coming back to this.

On an unrelated note I was thinking about having music on the endings but I was against it, some writers plug in music and it can go really well with the setting, me I'm not going to try that for this comic, instead I kind of just want some nice tunes at the end, like a nice little outro. If I went through with it what I would have put after the -END OF PROLOGUE- would be - (Play *Silent Hill 2 OST - Theme of Laura*) it feels a little out of place and kinda uplifting.

I guess that's it for now, Review, follow, favorite and PM for criticism.

Join me next time for the second arc - The Great Lakes Incident